‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ makes up ground overseas with $102.1 million; elsewhere in the U.S., ‘The Shallows’ has a sharper bite than expected, while ‘Free State of Jones’ and ‘The Neon Demon’ are D.O.A.
Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence failed to ignite big fireworks at the North American office over the weekend, where it came in behind expectations with an estimated $41.6 million from 4,068 theaters.
While that’s hardly a disastrous start, the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 blockbuster will need to do sizeable business overseas to land in the black for Fox. So far, the tentpole seems to be getting its wish, debuting to $102.1 million from 57 foreign markets, including China, for a global debut of $143.7 million.
Resurgence placed No. 2 behind Finding Dory in North America. Overseas, it topped the weekend foreign chart, led by China with $37.3 million. But in China itself, it placed No. 2 behind Now You See Me 2, which raced to a dazzling $43.3 million, a record for Lionsgate and bringing that movie’s global total to $159.8 million.
Independence Day: Resurgence skewed heavily male for an all-audience tentpole (58 percent), helping to explain the subdued results, while 64 percent of ticketbuyers were over the age of 25. Generally speaking, the film underperformed on the East Coast.
Resurgence is set two decades after the events of the original pic (including the spectacular destruction of the White House and other iconic landmarks) and sees the same menacing aliens once again wreaking havoc.
Smith might be absent, but a number of other stars appearing in the first film reprised their roles, including Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch. Newcomers include Liam Hemsworth, who plays a hot-shot military pilot whose parents died in the first alien attack and who is now dating the former first daughter (Maika Monroe), and Jessie Usher, who plays the stepson of Smith’s character, now deceased.