Summer of sequels!

The major Hollywood studios are making big bets on some familiar names. With Spidey, Shrek, Jack Sparrow and Harry all on tap, could this be a record-breaking summer at the box office?

Live Free or Die Hard
June 27
Live Free or Die Hard
20th Century Fox (NWS)
Another sequel. And this one actually comes close to beating out "Ocean's 13" for my most unnecessary sequel of the summer award.

"Live Free or Die Hard" is the fourth movie in the Bruce Willis action franchise. But does anyone still care about John McClane? Or even remember him for that matter?

This is the first "Die Hard" movie since 1995. And even though Willis is back, Samuel L. Jackson isn't. But there is some interesting casting in this film. Replacing Jackson as Willis' sidekick is Justin Long, who many will recognize as Mac from the popular Apple commercials. Director/actor Kevin Smith is also in the movie, playing a character called The Warlock.

But considering that none of the Die Hard films were ever really huge hits - the second one, with a take of $117.5 million in 1990, is the biggest commercial success - it's hard to imagine this movie lighting up the box office.

Yet, Pandya thinks the movie could be a big hit overseas, where Willis is still considered a pretty big star. He predicts that the film's international box office revenue could double what the film does in the U.S.


Spider-Man 3

Shrek the Third

Pirates of the Caribbean

Knocked Up

Ocean's 13

Fantastic Four

Evan Almighty

Live Free or Die Hard

Ratatouille

Transformers

Harry Potter

Chuck and Larry

The Simpsons

The Bourne Ultimatum

Rush Hour 3
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.