If there's one thing that's certain to appear every summer, it's big Hollywood blockbusters. This is great for moviegoers, as there are always 2-3 exciting movies which are in the theaters at any given moment. Unfortunately, this also causes the films to cannibalize themselves at the box office, resulting in a ton of flops to go alongside each money making blockbuster. And between superhero movies like Captain America: Civil War and Suicide Squad, and children's movies like Finding Dory taking all of the cash from audiences, other big budget movies are making pennies in comparison. Yet somehow the likes of Independence Day: Resurgence has managed to rake it in, despite a lackluster performance domestically.
Box Office Mojo is reporting that Independence Day: Resurgence has raked in a worldwide total of $253,412,437. This is pretty damn surprising, considering how the long awaited sequel hasn't been doing so well within the U.S. In fact, domestically the film was made a measly $76 million, which would surely have been a disappointment for the producers of such an expensive movie. Luckily for them, the international market has saved Resurgence, taking in a total of $177 million overseas. According to Deadline, much of this sum came from the Chinese markets, where Independence Day: Resurgence made $66.1 million.
This success in China marks the second movie in recent months which has been completely saved by the international box office. This happened recently with Warcraft, which happened to rake in $46 million in just one day, which was the second biggest single day in Chinese box office history. These events have the potential to be game changers in the world of Hollywood. No longer do big budget movies need to depend on the domestic market to return investment and make money. If studios can learn to properly market their films in China and other international markets, there can be some serious money to be made.
Independence Day: Resurgence is the long awaited sequel for the original 1996 movie. 20 years after the events of the first film, our heroes (minus Will Smith's Steven Hiller) must unite to once again defend the earth from an alien invasion, and the possibility of an extinction event. The film stars almost all of the original cast, including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, and Brent Spiner.
Independence Day: Resurgence is in theaters now.
