It has been almost 20 years since Independence Day shocked the world when aliens destroyed The White House and mankind’s only hope was Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, well the sequel has now been given a release date and some of the details have now been revealed. Unfortunately Will Smith turned down the opportunity to return as Captain Steven Hiller, supposedly due to demanding too much money to reprise his role and Fox not bowing to his wishes. What is known is that Goldblum will return as David Levinson, and Chris Hemsworth’s brother Liam will be replacing Smith’s role. Hemsworth, who started out on Australian television with Neighbours, found fame with the Hunger Games as Gale Hawthorne, friend of Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen.
Jeff Goldblum, whose film career started in the 1970s and found huge box office success in The Fly (1978) and as Dr Ian Malcolm in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), is set to return in Independence Day 2 as David Levinson. Reprising his role as the ex-scientist turned cable technician, who is the first to discover the alien’s plans to destroy key landmarks across Earth. Independence Day 2 will be Goldblum’s first film role since 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, where he played Deputy Kovacs.
Principal photography has begun on Independence Day 2 but no word of plot or synopsis has yet to be revealed, but will no doubt involve aliens coming back to Earth to avenge the repelled invasion from last time. Roland Emmerich will be returning as director, who since he last took the reigns 19 years ago, has gone on to make a name for himself in the disaster movie genre. Godzilla, Day After Tomorrow and 2012 all followed the success of Independence Day. Carter Blanchard has been bought onboard to write the script, taking over from Dean Devlin who has now taken the role up of producer for Independence Day 2 and the subsequent planned sequel.
Independence Day 2 is scheduled for release on June 26 2016, surely missing a trick of not releasing it on fourth of July. But it will come almost exactly 20 years since the original was released on June 25 1996. The original went on to smash box office records, making over $50,000,000 on opening weekend, going on to gross over $800,000,000 worldwide. With such a huge success, it has come as a surprise to many why a sequel has taken this long to materialise.
According to producer Dean Devlin, the US military had agreed to support the film, allowing the use of military bases and consultations to any actors who played military roles. But after learning about the references to Area 51 in the script, all help was pulled. Independence Day also still holds the record for most miniature model work to appear in a film. Michael Joyce, who was a supervisor for all models on set claimed that the film featured more miniatures than any other two films combined. Due to the advancement of special effects, the need for practical affects lessens, so this record will more than likely stand forever.
Independence Day 2 is due for release next year on June 26 2016, with another sequel has been confirmed but with no date as of yet.
