The 20-years-later sequel to the '96 hit Independence Day turned out to be kind of a bust this weekend, with critics and audiences, as it opened with just 41 million and a lowly "B" Cinemascore, after getting savaged by critics on Friday. It joins the ranks of 2016's sequels no one asked for, while last year's winner Finding Dory continued to dominate, pulling in 73 million and now on track to be Disney's highest grossing film of the year, and the highest grosser of the year, period. It has 286 million in the can already and looks well on its way to surpass The Jungle Book, Zootopia and Captain American: Civil War, possibly headed for a stunning 500 million finish.
Meanwhile, Blake Lively's B-movie The Shallows, did better than expected, coming in with 16 million for the weekend, on top of decent reviews as well, and could hold up in the coming weeks as fun counter-programming of sorts, with not much else out to compete for its audience. Central Intelligence held well, with another 18 million, bringing the new total to 69 million and a likely 100 million grosser for Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, while newbie Free State of Jones rounded out the top five with just 7 million, a disappointing open for Matthew McConaughey's first starring wide release since Interstellar.
Top 5:
- Finding Dory- 73.2 million
- Independence Day: Resurgence- 41.6 million
- Central Intelligence- 18.4 million
- The Shallows- 16.7 million
- Free State of Jones- 7.8 million
Nicholas Winding Refn's Neon Demon flopped hard in release this week, opening in over 780 screens with a pitiful PTA of 775 dollars. Why on earth they put that movie out in relatively wide release is anyone's guess. And the Daniel Radcliffe "farting corpse" Sundance movie Swiss Army Man actually made about 114k from just three screens, so I guess you can probably attribute that to curiosity more than anything else, because it certainly did not get great reviews. Next week it's the 4th of July holiday, with Spielberg's The BFG and The Legend of Tarzan opening, neither of which are expected to break out exactly, so that's good news for the continued reign of Finding Dory. It's been a pretty dismal summer for movies thus far. I just hope maybe Star Trek or Bourne can break the mold in July.
