Independence Day 2 Is Officially A Go, Get The Details Here
This article is more than 2 years old
There’s been so much talk of Independence Day 2 that who the hell knows what’s going on. It’s going to be one movie, it’s going to be two movies, Will Smith is back, Will Smith isn’t back, there’s a script for if Will Smith is back and one for if he isn’t. One thing is certain, however, this is in fact now officially happening.
Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has given a green light to the long gestating sequel, there’s even a start and a tentative release date scheduled. Filming is now slated to kick off in May of 2015, with a public unveiling on the books for June 26, 2016. At least you’ll be able to go to a theater and see Independence Day 2 on Independence Day if you’re so inclined, and this will mark the 20th anniversary of the first film. That is, unless the schedule gets bumped around, which often happens with these things, especially this far out. We’ll have to wait and see, but odds are they’ll try to keep it as close to the 4th of July as they can.
Director Roland Emmerich is not officially on board yet, but he is expected to return. The studio and the filmmaker are working on a deal to bring him back, and the two sides are reportedly close to an agreement. At least if they don’t have Smith, which is doesn’t sound like they will, having Emmerich at the helm is a big deal for this film. And it has been reported that both Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman are going to come back for another round with the aliens.
Once the deal for Emmerich is in place, they plan to set about casting the film. While there have been rumors and reports over the years that there might be multiple Independence Day sequels in the works, this is going to be a single film. I’m sure that if this is successful there will be more movies to come, but it’s not one of those situations where they’re going to shoot multiple movies at the same time. For now, Fox only gave the go ahead for one chapter in the saga.
There aren’t any details about the story right now, but one of the rumors we’ve heard is that the action might follow a grown up Dylan, Vivica Fox’s son from the first movie. Michael B. Jordan’s name was kicked around with that report when it first circulated, but that was some time ago. The script has been through a number of iterations at this point. Again, there have been reports of two, one with Will Smith’s Steve Hiller, one without. Whether or not that is true, there have been at least three different versions up to this point, and there will probably be some fine-tuning and tinkering before production begins.
This has been a long time coming, and while some didn’t think it would ever materialize, the studio is not going to let a movie that grossed more than $800 million go without a sequel, so you knew it was going to get done eventually. Are you excited for Independence Day 2? Are you holding out until we know more details? Or do you wish they just let it be? Sound off below.
