As 20th Century Fox’s “Independence Day: Resurgence” prepares to land on 4,067 screens this weekend — 20 years after the original stormed theaters — the sequel is sizing up to open to nearly the same figure it did the first time around: $50 million.
Accounting for inflation, that’s not great. Especially given the original’s production costs of $75 million compared with an estimated $165 million this time around.
The first “Independence Day” movie opened in 1996 to $50.2 million and went on to become the No. 1 movie of the year, earning $817.4 million worldwide.
While that’s not chump change by any means, experts expect “Resurgence” to rake in approximately the same weekend haul.
Given that tracking has Disney-Pixar’s record-breaking “Finding Dory” swimming past $60 million this upcoming weekend — its second in theaters — Fox’s big-budget apocalypse sequel would have to pull a rabbit out of its hat to hit No. 1.
Meanwhile, STX Entertainment’s Matthew McConaughey drama “The Free State of Jones” is expected to underperform. The Civil War-era movie about Newton Knight’s armed rebellion against the Confederacy should come in above $10 million from 2,815 screens. It was made for $50 million.
Reviews are still rolling in on the film, written and directed by Gary Ross (2012’s “The Hunger Games”), but its current Rotten Tomatoes score is an abysmal 0 percent.
Columbia Pictures’ surfer thriller “The Shallows” should ride away with a respectable $9 million, given it’s $17 million project budget. It’s being distributed by Sony.
Starring Blake Lively as a surfer and would-be shark chum, the low-budget PG-13 film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, whose 2009 “Orphan” reflected his foray into Hitchcockian suspense.
Both new wide releases, “Shallows” and “Jones,” will struggle to enter the top five, competing against strong return performers, including “Central Intelligence” and “The Conjuring 2.”
10 Summer Movie Box Office Champs of the Last 10 Summers (Photos)
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (Release date: July 7, 2006)
The sequel to the 2003 Disney action adventure was even more commercially successful than its predecessor. Though it didn’t receive the same amount of positive reviews, “Dead Man’s Chest” grossed about $423.3 million domestically and $1.06 billion worldwide, which helped spawn three more sequels for the franchise.
“Spider-Man 3” (Release date: May 4, 2007)
“Spider-Man 3” may not have lived up to the hype of Sam Raimi's first two movies in the superhero franchise, but it certainly made an impression financially. The third and final outing with Tobey Maguire as the webslinger earned $336.5 million domestically and $890 million worldwide.
"The Dark Knight" (Release date: July 18, 2008)
The middle film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy featured a memorable, Oscar-winning turn by Heath Ledger as the Joker. That boosted box office to an impressive $534.8 million in North America and just over $1 billion worldwide.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (Release date: June 24, 2009)
Poor reviews didn’t stop “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” from becoming the highest grossing film of the summer of 2009 (and the second highest that year). The movie grossed $402.1 million domestically and $836 million worldwide.
"Toy Story 3" (Release date: June 18, 2010)
Fifteen years after Pixar’s beloved classic “Toy Story,” the film’s threequel exceeded expectations, both critically and commercially. Receiving overwhelming critical praise and two Academy Awards, “Toy Story 3” skyrocketed at the box office. It grossed $415 million domestically and became the first animated film to top $1 billion worldwide.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” (Release date: July 15, 2011)
The eighth and final chapter in the epic “Harry Potter” film series was a no-brainer success. After a record-breaking opening weekend, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” made $381 million in domestic revenue and $960 million overseas, totaling $1.3 billion.
"Marvel’s The Avengers" (Release date: May 4, 2012)
Marvel's superhero mash-up became the studio's first to claim the summer box office title. Drawing $623.4 million in domestic grosses and $1.5 billion in total, "The Avengers" established Marvel’s place in creating blockbusters.
"Iron Man 3" (Release date: May 3, 2013)
Marvel continued its streak with "Iron Man 3," which earned $409 million in the U.S. and $1.2 billion worldwide.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" (Release date: August 1, 2014)
Once “The Avengers” and “Iron Man 3” set the bar high for commercial success, Marvel proved to be an unstoppable force when it released "Guardians of the Galaxy." A peculiar revival of an old Marvel comic, "Guardians of the Galaxy" became a critical and commercial hit, making $333.1 million at the domestic box office and $773 million worldwide.
"Jurassic World" (Release date: June 12, 2015)
After making waves in "Guardians of the Galaxy," Chris Pratt cemented his leading man status with “Jurassic World,” the fourth installment of the “Jurassic Park” franchise. In addition to making $524.4 million worldwide in its opening weekend, “Jurassic World” shattered box office records. It wound up chomping $652.2 million in domestic revenue and $1.6 billion overall.
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From ”The Dark Knight“ to ”Jurassic World,“ these summer releases all topped the domestic and foreign box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo