Independence Day: Resurgence

Some of our favorite films have become some of our least favorite sequels.

There were a lot of great movies in 2016. There were! Please don’t let this list convince you otherwise. The movies were absolutely wonderful this year. Just not these specific movies. These were bad. So, so, so bad. Just awful.

Be honest: When you clicked on the link to open this page, did you think for a second this article might just say “ALL OF THEM!”

You’ll find something in this year’s summer movies that has never happened before: two gay couples in two major franchise films. Considering the scarcity of LGBTQ characters in Hollywood, that’s a pretty big deal.

I have a dream job. What could be better than watching and talking about movies for a living? Nothing; the answer is nothing. But lately my job has been a lot less fun than normal, because the movies themselves have been a lot less fun. Quite frankly, this summer sucks.

It took 20 years for Roland Emmerich to deliver a sequel to Independence Day, a film that’s largely responsible for the modern summer blockbuster season. Unfortunately, it looks like most audiences didn’t think it was worth the wait. As predicted in recent weeks, Resurgence crash-landed in theaters with an underwhelming opening weekend that was no match for Pixar’s Finding Dory.

The box office results for Independence Day: Resurgence may not be in yet, but that hasn’t prevented director Roland Emmerich from talking sequels. According to a recent interview with Empire (via /Film), Emmerich has plans to send Earth’s most Goldblum-y defenders out among the stars.

We always knew they were coming back. After all, what epic, era-defining blockbuster doesn’t get a sequel in this day and age? None. And Independence Day truly was one of the biggest movies of the 1990s, both in terms of grosses (it was the top earner of 1996, both home and abroad) and scope, with mile-wide UFOs descending on our planet, wiping out our most treasured landmarks, and trying to eradicate our species. A few brave heroes fought back and saved our world from extinction and now, 20 years later, most of them return to fight a new alien menace in Independence Day: Resurgence (except for Will Smith, he was busy). A cast of familiar faces (Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman) and newcomers (Liam

Like so many Hollywood blockbusters these days, Independence Day: Resurgence ends with a beginning. Before the dust has settled on the final conflict, the next conflict is already set in motion. Rather than tying a bow around the previous two hours of planet-leveling carnage, Resurgence immediately begins teasing another sequel.

Independence Day: Resurgence hits theaters this week, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it unless you’ve been keeping a close eye on this month’s new releases. Fox has no plans to screen the film for press in advance, so if you’re waiting to read some reviews before committing to see the sequel this weekend, you can go ahead and stop now. But Fox is still hoping to lure audiences in even without some positive early buzz, mostly via fun viral videos like these.