Roland Emmerich says he hopes to make an Will Smith in his star-making role. The movie was released in July of 1996, and it went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year. However, even with all the movie's success, it still took 20 years for a sequel to manifest.
Smith opted not to return. Smith's character was killed off in a line of dialogue, with his only appearance being that of a photograph on the wall. The film's plot followed mankind as they once again find themselves in a fight against a seemingly insurmountable alien invasion. Resurgence underperformed at the box office, and critics and audiences equally hated it with a 30% rotten score from both groups on Rotten Tomatoes. A third film had already been planned when Independence Day: Resurgence was released, but given its reception, all future plans were canceled. However, after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, the film rights for Independence Day found themselves at a new home.
When speaking with Comicbook, Emmerich discussed his plans for Independence Day 3. The third film would've seen Goldblum and Brent Spiner's Doctor Okun return for a story that would've been a unique change for the franchise. Emmerich also seemed excited by the opportunity that Disney+ may offer Independence Day with either another film or even a TV series being possible. While he expresses his ion for the project, he also notes that he would be content if another filmmaker took the project on. Check out what Emmerich said below:
"They have now a streaming service and they need product. I would love to do maybe a third one, or a TV show, continuing the story. When we did Independence Day: Resurgence, we already had, also, the third part already. And actually, the third part has much more to do with the first part, because we learned, more or less, that out there are a lot of refugees and they're living on a refugee planet. And where [the aliens] finally come there because, somewhat like these aliens on earth, found out about it and telepathically or whatever gave it to their super queen. They're all humans, but in all different forms. So it's this thing that we have Brent Spiner and Jeff Goldblum and we have them with all these different forms of people, which would be a great movie. But we'll see what happens."
"It doesn't matter, whoever does it, but I feel very ionate about it, very, very ionate, because it was a little bit like... this movie single-handedly also got me total freedom. I have final cut since then. I pretty much do my own thing. And now, even producing my own films, no studio anymore, I got myself a studio, you know what I mean? In a very small form, like a little garage studio. Anyhow, I feel very, very ionate about it because it was my first -- actually, that's why both Stargate and Independence Day are seminal movies for me. They pretty much created all of what I did afterwards."
With the success of Disney+, Emmerich's comments about their need for product ring true, and Independence Day could be a good fit for the streaming service. Though, there may be hesitation on their part from the The Mandalorian, continue to do well. So Independence Day could fit right in with that style of show to find its own success through TV. However, with the plans already well in place for what a third film could be, Emmerich may be able to convince Disney to make the movie exclusively for their streaming service.
Emmerich's next project, Moonfall, features another apocalyptic scenario that sees the Moon knocked from its orbit and sent on a collision course with Earth. Moonfall stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and Donald Sutherland, and it's slated for release on February 4th, 2022. With Emmerich busy on other projects and no concrete plans in place, it's tough to say what the future holds for Independence Day. Given Emmerich's enthusiasm for the project, he's likely to continue pursuing it, and even if he doesn't direct it, he'll likely be involved in some capacity.
Source: Comicbook
