While it has taken twenty years for an “Independence Day” sequel to arrive (losing Will Smith on the way), it’s a concept that has been tinkered with over the years, until landing (for better or worse) on what will hit cinemas next week. But back in the early ’00s, the creative team was kicking around ideas, that even they admit, what they had at the time wasn’t so hot.
“It was after 9/11 and [producer] Dean [Devlin] and I wanted to make the movie about peace, and it just didn’t work,” franchise director Roland Emmerich told Empire. “There’s still an element of that in the new one, but that version was only about that. We shoot aliens down accidentally and then at the end of the movie they land on the White House lawn and say ‘we come in peace’ and that was it. It was just too weak an idea and we didn’t really want to do it. It didn’t have an ‘Independence Day’ feel. Only the alien ship was destroyed!”
READ MORE: Watch: Epic 5-Minute Extended Trailer For ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’
While that concept is admittedly pretty tame, it is amusing that for Emmerich, part of the problem was that there wasn’t enough destruction. Well, it certainly looks like “Independence Day: Resurgence” will have no shortage of things being blown to smithereens, so at least in that regard, it will be a “success.” But if it’s a hit financially, of course, things are set up for an “Independence Day 3.”
“If it’s successful enough, yes, because it’s set up for a sequel. In 20 years? No, I wouldn’t want to make it with a [walker]!” the director added. And it’s worth remembering that back when Will Smith was eyeballing returning to the series, there was talk of doing two movies, so maybe they’ve kept that core concept, and just wrote him out.
“Independence Day: Resurgence” opens on June 24th.
