Fox won’t be thrilled with the Independence Day: Resurgence box office results thus far following a tepid Friday opening day. Disney, meanwhile, has to be ecstatic with Finding Dory as the animated sequel continues to ride a wave to success.
Finding Dory just keeps on swimming at the box office after setting an opening weekend record for an animated film with just over $135 million a week ago. With the kids out of school and positive word-of-mouth spreading wide and far, the Pixar sequel earned $23.2 million on Friday and is pacing to nab somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 million for its second weekend. It’s worldwide total now stands at $287.2 million and counting.
Fox and Roland Emmerich’s long-awaited Independence Day: Resurgence sequel film failed to achieve liftoff. After earning roughly $4 million on Thursday night, it earned another $12.8 million Friday for an opening day total of $16.8 million. At that pace a $40-45 million opening weekend range is all the big budget wannabe blockbuster will manage.
What went wrong with Independence Day: Resurgence? There are numerous factors working against its success. First, the convenient removal of Will Smith and his famous one-liners from the franchise dealt it a star power blow. A sense of been there, done that and mediocre critical reviews haven’t helped, and a “B+” CinemaScore won’t help it too much moving forward.
In contrast, Sony must be thrilled with how The Shallows starring Blake Lively is faring during its opening frame. No, it’s not another Jaws-size hit, but the $6.85 million opening Friday should equate to a $17 million opening weekend — or roughly the film’s entire production budget.
The other new opener, STX’s Free State of Jones starring Matthew McConaughey, flew in under the radar with a $2.65 million opening day. It won’t make $10 million through Sunday and that’s not a great sign for a film that cost $50 million to produce.
Check back Sunday for the complete weekend box office wrap up report.
