--- description: Once a prime movie holiday, the midsummer date has lost its luster title: Fourth of July Movies Lose Luster image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Fourth Loses Its Fireworks by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2014 10:34 AM CUT by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2014 10:34 AM CUT What could be more American than a typical July 4 holiday–the backyard party, the fireworks and then a big movie with lots more pyrotechnics and an engaging star? That was the tradition a decade or two ago, when Will Smith would often front a family-friendly action film. From the 1996 alien-invasion smash Independence Day through Men in Black in 1997 and its 2002 sequel up to the 2008 Hancock, the Fresh Prince was a founding father of explosive entertainment. This year America’s tentpole holiday will be more like Arbor Day. The only new releases of any note are the Melissa McCarthy comedy Tammy and a low-budget sci-fi film, Earth to Echo. Many moviegoers may be catching up with Transformers: Age of Extinction, a surefire hit that opens the week before. In terms of pop-cultural impact, though, this July 4 will be Indifference Day. One reason is that there aren’t many stars like Will Smith these days. Including Will Smith. MIB 3 in 2012 was the lowest-grossing film of the Men in Black series, and After Earth, Smith’s daddy-day-care fantasy effort with his son Jaden, flopped ignominiously. The big recent July 4 hits–The Amazing Spider-Man, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Despicable Me 2 and the first three Transformers movies–flourished on their franchise familiarity, not their star quality. Unless, that is, you once considered the Transformers lead, Shia LaBeouf, a marquee lure. And even LaBeouf no longer calls himself a star. He appeared at this year’s Berlin Film Festival with a paper bag on his head. It read, “I am not famous anymore.” Mark Wahlberg, who replaces LaBeouf in Age of Extinction, is famous–a working-class star–and two years ago he helped the R-rated comedy Ted to an Independence-week bonanza. McCarthy will try proving her comedy clout as a first-time top-billed attraction with Tammy, which she co-wrote with her director (and husband), Ben Falcone. Will that have the allure of McCarthy’s The Heat? Or will it be another vanity-film failure like After Earth? And Earth to Echo–why is that tiny film opening on this holiday? The trailers promise a found-footage retake on E.T., with kids finding a cute alien that looks like Bubo from Clash of the Titans. So this year’s July 4 film fireworks may well be a rainout. The only hope for fans of star-vehicle action films is the word on Internet Movie Database that Smith is to star in Hancock 2–perhaps for Independence Day 2015? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/92088/the-fourth-loses-its-fireworks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/92088/the-fourth-loses-its-fireworks/"},"headline":"The Fourth Loses Its Fireworks","datePublished":"2014-05-08T10:34:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:43:26.493Z","description":"Once a prime movie holiday, the midsummer date has lost its luster","url":"https://time.com/92088/the-fourth-loses-its-fireworks/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Corliss","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/92088/the-fourth-loses-its-fireworks/","name":"The Fourth Loses Its Fireworks"}}]}] ```