Moviefone Editorial

Tag: independence-day

  • The 11 Most Overrated Movies of the ’90s

    The 11 Most Overrated Movies of the ’90s

  • ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s’ Jeff Goldblum on Returning to the Franchise and His ‘Simpsons’ Episode

    You don’t talk to Jeff Goldblum as much as you hold on for dear life.

    The actor, who just received a long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — and has been having something of a career second-wind thanks to well-placed roles in movies big and small — returns to the franchise that made him a household name with “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” And you can feel that electricity running through the legendary actor while talking to him.

    For Goldblum, who once more plays the role of scientist and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm in the newest installment in the series, the performance feels just as important as it did the first time around, even if the total runtime adds up to little more than a cameo.

    And that kind of effervescent energy is infectious. In our conversation, we talked about returning to the franchise, his many roles as a wacky scientist, whether or not he’s seen his Marvel-approved mural in Disneyland, and what he remembers from his excellent performance on “The Simpsons.”

    It’s a wild ride. Hang on.

    Moviefone: When you signed on to the first “Jurassic Park” 25 years ago, did you ever think you’d still be playing the character?

    Goldblum: No. It’s all been lucky, to keep going, you know? I don’t think we thought that there’d be any more than just the one. I certainly didn’t think about it. And then there was that second one and, here we are, 25 years later, holy cats! It was a total surprise to me.

    What was your reaction when they called you and said they wanted you back for “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom?”

    I was very, very thrilled because I have nothing but rosy associations with all my experiences with them … Michael Crichton’s book, I loved. And I love that part. Steven Spielberg was a once-in-a-lifetime — or, in that case, [a] twice-in-a-lifetime experience, working with him. And in the ensuing years, people have come up and I realized how thrilled people were with those movies. And when they called me and said J.A. Bayona — because I had seen all of his other movies and I was a fan of his — I wanted to work with him. Colin Trevorrow is just wonderful. He wrote and directed the last one, and wrote this one, and he’s just great. So I was thrilled. I love this current cast. Chris and Bryce are spectacular. I was just delighted.

    You’ve kind of become the “Jurassic Park” ambassador — you’re part of the videogame that is coming out, too, and you have made appearances at the theme park.

    Yeah, that’s true. Well, the videogame, they were very nice. They wrote a lot of Ian Malcolm-esque lines for me. I said a lot of them; probably more than in any of the movies. I met with them for a couple of days and recorded stuff. But I know that’s got fans, so I was happy to do that. They did a state-of-the-art job with that kind of stuff.The end of this movie leaves things pretty open — would you be interested in coming back for the third film?

    Well, I am enjoying life. I want to keep going and keep waking up and taking nourishment and having my oatmeal and everything. This is a thrilling part of life. On one hand, I’ve done so much with these and I feel so satisfied, so if nothing else happened I’d feel grateful and lucky. But, if anybody felt like I could contribute something, I’d offer my humble service to anything that I might do to continue telling the story.

    I think it should be you, Sam Neill, Laura Dern — you should all be back in the next one.

    Ooooh, well — I love those actors. Who knows what will happen. They’re cooking it up right now, I think. They’ve said publicly that, by summer of 2021, they’re hoping to have something out. (Editor’s note: the third “Jurassic World” movie is currently slated for release June 11, 2021.)

    Colin Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael are writing the script now. And this character is so rich, I must say, it was delicious to try and reinvestigate [Malcolm’s] thinking and feeling, which is kind of rich on the issues of making the planet work for everyone and being passionately anti-greed and anti-militaristic. He’s an interesting cat.

    You’ve played a lot of wacky scientists. Is Ian Malcolm your favorite?

    Well, it’s tough to play favorites. Now that I’m a father, I know that’s not the coolest thing to do. Let’s see … Ian Malcolm, well, I’m immersed in the world right now so I’m particularly fond or a little bit in love with that character and that world, that’s true. Who are the others?Well, Seth Brundle from “The Fly.”

    Oh, yes. Love Seth Brundle.

    Your character in “Independence Day” wasn’t exactly a scientist, but he was scientifically minded.

    Yeah, some kind of smarty pants, some kind of MIT-trained man of technology. Hey, I have something in the can where I played a scientist. I played, in this movie called “The Mountain,” directed by Rick Alverson, who made “The Comedy” and “Entertainment,” two movies that I really like, and I play — in 1954 — a kind of version of the real-life character who pioneered pre-frontal lobotomies in America. He’s a doctor and he’s fallen from grace in our story, and he goes on a drunken adventure in the Pacific Northwest with Tye Sheridan under his wing. And Udo Kier is in it. It’ll be an artful offering and I had a great time doing it.

    I ran into Udo Kier in a furniture store in Palm Springs a few weeks ago.

    Oh, really? Yes, he lives in Palm Springs, yes. He worked with Andy Warhol and Lars Von Trier. What a career he’s had.

    Recently, you entered another great franchise as the Grandmaster in “Thor Ragnarok.” What was that experience like?

    I loved it to pieces. Taika Waititi is very brilliant and a comedic force of nature, and we had a great time together. We laughed up a storm. We improvised a lot. He made up stuff and I made up stuff. And all of the people at Marvel are really great to work with. They’re very brilliant and creative and have great integrity. They want to make popular movies, but they want to make good movies. And they have newfangled ways of doing it and I enjoyed them to no end.

    Do you think you’ll come back in that Marvel Cinematic Universe?

    Who knows. I have no idea. But I can imagine. The Grandmaster is immortal. You can’t kill him. I think he played some game with the devil, and I think — for he and his brother — they got immortality. And he has more superpowers than anybody we’ve ever seen, but just amuses himself with games, as we’ve seen. It’s fertile ground.Have you seen your mural at Disneyland?

    That’s so funny. I haven’t seen that mural in person, but I’ve see it on Instagram. I like that. I’ve having an ecstatic moment, wiping all the pieces off the board. And I’m in my sandals! My feet are on display, too! I always like that.

    Before I go, I have to ask you about your episode of “The Simpsons,” which is one of my favorites ever.

    Well, thank you so much. Those people are so great. It was fun and funny to do. Yes, to be the agent and manager and advisor to Troy McClure — and to get him to resurrect his career with some sex scandal with a fish — it’s always a good idea! Yes! Good advice! I haven’t done that myself, but I have it up my sleeve.

    “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” stomps into cinemas everywhere this week.

  • Proof That ‘Independence Day’ Is Still Cool AF

    Independence Day 1996If you don’t watch “Independence Day” every July 4th (or, Independence Day, if you will), then you’re not a true American.

    Here’s why, after all these years, ID4 still rules.

  • 9 Reasons ‘Independence Day’ Is Still Cool as Sh**

    If you don’t watch “Independence Day” on July 4th, you’re not a true American. Here’s why this movie rules.

  • ​What Happened to ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ at the Box Office?

    We’re in a weird place where a summer blockbuster can open with the huge numbers that “Independence Day: Resurgence” did and still be considered a box office flop.

    The alien-invasion sequel premiered with an estimated $41.6 million; opening wide on 4,068 screens, that’s an average of $10,226 per screen. Those are the kind of numbers most movies would kill for.

    But remember, the first “Independence Day,” a movie not based on a previously-existing property, and with no big stars, debuted with $50.3 million, and that was in 1996 dollars. Today, that would be the equivalent of a $97.5 million debut.

    The sequel’s distributor, Fox, had expected the new film to open around $50 million as well, but adjusting for inflation, that means the new film did only about half as well as the 20-year-old original. Predictions by outside analysts ran from $40 to $55 million; that the movie opened on the low end of those expectations, and well below Fox’s own modest prediction, is not good news.

    Plus, the movie cost at least $165 million to make. (Some sources say as much as $200 million; compare that to $75 million to make “ID4” two decades ago.) Given its likely promotional costs and the splitting of revenue with theater owners, “Resurgence” will have to gross about $660 million worldwide for Fox just to break even. That’s going to be nearly impossible given the movie’s slow domestic start.

    What went wrong? Here are a few of “Resurgence’s” missteps.

    1. The Wait
    Two decades is an awfully long time to wait between installments. It’s not insurmountable; the “Mad Max” franchise waited 30 years, but “Mad Max: Fury Road” was still a hit last year. In part that was because it offered the kind of spectacle and in-camera effects that you couldn’t see anywhere else.

    But the kind of modern-day disaster-film blockbuster that Roland Emmerich pioneered with the first “Independence Day” became commonplace by the time he made the second one. In a multiplex dominated by “Avengers” and “Transformers” movies, it’s easy to forget how novel “Independence Day” was — if, indeed, you’re old enough to remember it at all.

    2. No Star Power
    The original “ID4” made Will Smith into a bankable box office star and the king of July movies. His luster has dimmed in recent years, but if he’d been aboard this installment, he’d still have been the biggest box office draw in the cast. (Sorry, but Liam Hemsworth is not a big box office draw, and neither are returning “ID4” stars Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum.) Smith’s presence could have been worth tens of millions of dollars, especially overseas, where he remains a bigger star than he is here.

    3. The Reviews
    They’ve been pretty terrible, just 33 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. Not that Emmerich’s destruct-o-thons are ever the critics’ cup of popcorn (though they did give “ID4” a 62 percent fresh rating in 1996). Still, the movie needed to attract older, nostalgia-minded viewers, the ones who still read reviews. Of course, these summer action blockbusters are usually critic-proof, but audiences didn’t think much of “Resurgence” either, judging by the tepid B grade they gave it at CinemaScore. Which means that viewer word-of-mouth seems to back up the critical complaints, that “Resurgence” doesn’t really deliver.

    It also didn’t help that Fox knew they had a turd on their hands, which is why they did not screen the film for press — or junket it — in an attempt to control their losses.

    4. Sequel Fatigue
    A handful of exceptions aside — notably, “Finding Dory,” “Captain America: Civil War,” and “The Conjuring 2” — this hasn’t been a good year for sequels at the box office. The 2016 release slate has been pockmarked with such cratering sequels as “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “Now You See Me 2,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” “The Divergent Series: Allegiant,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” “London Has Fallen,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” and “Zoolander 2.”

    Many of these were plagued by some of the same problems as “Resurgence:” poor execution, long delays between installments, and the loss of major players from the franchise. That doesn’t necessarily mean audiences are rejecting retreads and craving originality; in fact, “Zootopia” is the only movie among the top 10 earners so far in 2016 that’s based on an original screenplay. But viewers do want sequels that deliver the goods the franchise has promised in the past, and as this year’s sequels that have fallen short of that promise are proving, having a familiar title alone without the content to back it up isn’t enough to ensure a hit anymore.

    5. Bad Timing
    “Resurgence” opened during the most crowded weekend of the summer so far. It’s competing against two other new wide release movies, one a prestige drama (“Free State of Jones“) aiming at the same older adults that “Resurgence” hoped would be drawn by nostalgia for “ID4,” and “The Shallows,” the Blake Lively-vs.-a-shark action movie that does seem to deliver the summer movie thrills, at a fraction of the scale and budget.

    “Shallows” did very well, opening at No. 4 with an estimated $16.7 million, about as much as the film cost to make, while “Jones” opened one spot below with an estimated $7.8 million, an underwhelming number, though at least the Civil War drama cost just $50 million to produce.

    More important, the Fox film was opening against several established hits. “Finding Dory,” going after the same broad, all-ages audience as “Resurgence,” remained at No. 1 in its second week, with an estimated $73.2 million. Also in its second weekend, “Central Intelligence” held its share of the action crowd and continued to appeal to men and women alike to earn an estimated $18.4 million, good for third place. And “The Conjuring 2,” out now for three weeks, came in a hair behind “Jones” with an estimated $7.7 million.
    Next weekend, everyone’s calendar will offer its own built-in advertisement for the “Independence Day” sequel, along with a four-day weekend. And aside from next week’s “The Legend of Tarzan” and the “Ghostbusters” reboot two weeks later, there’s not another galactic-scale action spectacle until “Star Trek Beyond” (pictured above) a month from now.

    And there’s also the foreign audience. To date, “Resurgence” has taken in an estimated $101.5 million abroad, for a global total of $143.1 million. That’s not bad, but even if “Resurgence” continues to earn 71 percent of its grosses outside of North America, it’ll still have to take in about $468 million overseas and $192 million here to break even.

    That’s about as likely as the government admitting it’s holding captured aliens at Area 51.
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  • Happy Earth Day! Here’s the First ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Trailer

    Independence Day ResurgenceOnce again, aliens are invading Earth and blowing up everything in their path. And once again, humankind has to team up to save their planet.

    To celebrate Earth Day, Fox released the first trailer for “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the sequel to 1996 blockbuster hit. Director Roland Emmerich jokingly apologized for destroying Earth so often in his movies, and “Resurgence” is no exception.
    Emmerich’s comment might have been tongue-in-cheek, but he really does like blowing things up. Entire cities look to be decimated. London Bridge goes falling down. As returning cast member Jeff Goldblum ironically notes, “They like to get the landmarks.” That’s putting it lightly.

    Also returning from the original movie are Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, and Brent Spiner. Meanwhile, Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, and Maika Monroe represent the new generation battling the alien invasion.

    “Independence Day: Resurgence” opens in theaters June 24.

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  • Roland Emmerich Gives Earth Day Apology for Destroying the World So Many Times

    Roland Emmerich is the king of disaster flicks, helming such apocalyptic fare as “Independence Day” (and its upcoming sequel, “Independence Day: Resurgence“), “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012,” and laying waste to basically the entire planet in the process. But in honor of Earth Day, Emmerich has offered an apology for being so harsh on the world.

    In a hilarious Instagram post, the director shared a screen shot from “Resurgence,” depicting a fiery cityscape and even more destruction on the horizon. But Emmerich wanted to make amends, directing his comments to the planet and offering a tongue-in-cheek mea culpa for all the chaos he’s caused over the years.

    “Dear Earth, I’m sorry for destroying you in a lot of my movies,” the filmmaker captioned his post. “In real life you’re truly my favorite.”


    Considering all the floods, earthquakes, ice ages, fires, explosions, alien attacks, Godzilla-unleashing, and White House destruction he’s masterminded over the years, the director certainly does owe Mother Earth a serious apology for his celluloid sins. Unfortunately for her, the footage we’ve seen from “Resurgence” so far indicates that Emmerich hasn’t exactly changed his apocalyptic ways.

    At least we can take comfort in the fact that all the chaos he’s depicted has been fictional so far. Our Earth Day wish is that it never becomes a reality.

    [via: Roland Emmerich]

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  • 9 Reasons Why ‘Independence Day’ Is Still Cool As Sh–

    If you don’t watch “Independence Day” on July 4th, you’re not a true American. Here’s why this movie rules.

  • Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth Goof Off on ‘Independence Day Resurgence’ Set

    independence day resurgence, liam hemsworth, jeff goldblumFighting aliens is hard work, and sometimes you just need to let off a little steam.

    That was no doubt part of the inspiration behind a candid moment captured recently on the “Independence Day Resurgence” set, as returning star Jeff Goldblum, posing in front of a spacecraft, was photobombed by co-star Liam Hemsworth. The goofy snap, which Goldblum shared on his new Facebook page, gives fans yet another a glimpse at the playful nature that’s part of the film’s production, and offers hope that the hotly-anticipated sequel to 1996’s “Independence Day” won’t take itself too seriously.

    So there I was thinking about how I would save mankind when this guy photobombs me. Oh, why hello Facebook, nice to finally meet you. #IDR

    Posted by Jeff Goldblum on Thursday, July 2, 2015

    “Independence Day Resurgence” picks up some 20 years after the first flick, and centers around Earth’s prep for yet another alien invasion, as the distress call from the last batch of attackers has only just now reached their home planet. Goldblum is suiting up again as scientist-turned-savior David Levinson, while Hemsworth’s role is undisclosed for now. (Judging by the above photo, perhaps he plays Goldblum or Bill Pullman‘s mischievous son?) And traveling to the moon is apparently part of the plan, too.

    Joining Goldblum and Pullman are fellow returnees Vivica A. Fox, Judd Hirsch, and Brent Spiner, among others. On Hemsworth’s newbie team are Sela Ward, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Joey King, and Maika Monroe.

    [via: Jeff Goldblum]

    Photo credit: Jeff Goldblum

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  • ‘Independence Day’ Sequel Gets ‘Resurgence’ Title, New Photo

    independence day resurgenceJust over a year from the film’s release, Fox has announced a new, improved title for “Independence Day 2,” and offered up the first photo from the long-awaited sequel.

    The flick is now known as “Independence Day Resurgence,” and what it’s missing in punctuation (seriously, there should be a colon after “Day,” right?), it more than makes up for in casting. Nearly every big name from the first film — save for the glaring omission of too-expensive Will Smith — is returning for the follow-up, including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, and Judd Hirsch.

    Joining those familiar faces this time around are series newcomers Liam Hemsworth, Sela Ward (who’s replacing Pullman as POTUS), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Joey King, and Maika Monroe. “Resurgence” centers around the people of Earth bracing for another alien attack, since the distress call that the first wave of aliens sent out during the invasion and ensuing battle in 1996’s “Independence Day” is only just now reaching their home planet.

    Perhaps Earth’s defense in “Resurgence” involves a trip to the moon? That’s certainly implied by this first image from the flick (below), which calls the pictured spacecraft a Moon Tug. We’re not sure exactly what that means, but we can’t wait to find out.
    Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset“Independence Day Resurgence” is due in theaters on June 24, 2016.

    Photo credit: Fox

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