Roland Emmerich, the director behind disaster epics The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and Godzilla has been in the news lately for his controversial views on franchise films. However, he too tried to create a franchise (albeit unsuccessfully) around a beloved film – 1996’s Independence Day. Emmerich co-wrote and directed the first and only sequel of his career, 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence. But the film underperformed at the box office and was universally panned by both critics and audiences. Will Smith’s absence was also deemed as one of the factors for Independence Day 2’s failure. But that wasn’t originally the case.
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Will Smith was initially interested in reprising his role as Captain Steven Hiller but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. As per reports, Smith chose Suicide Squad over Independence Day: Resurgence. While promoting his latest film, Moonfall, Emmerich talked to The Wrap about Independence Day: Resurgence and the film’s muddled plot. Roland Emmerich was hoping for Smith to return and says it came as a shock when the Bad Boys star abruptly left the project. “I’m proud of Independence Day: Resurgence, but we had one problem: Will Smith decided while we were preparing, to drop out. That was a huge, huge blow to me,” Emmerich said. He further revealed that the Independence Day sequel had to be rewritten in just two weeks due to financial obligations.
“At that point, I had to decide: should I keep going or not? I realized we had spent $10 or 12 million and you don’t drop out easily. I got two young writers and we locked ourselves in my New York apartment, because one couldn’t leave New York, he had a TV show there. And we wrote a new script in two weeks. We had to. There were daily calls from [Fox president] Emma Watts at that time.”
While Emmerich seems content with how things turned out, we can only wonder what the film would have looked like without any behind-the-scenes troubles. Will Smith was a key part of the original, and his return in Resurgence would have certainly elevated the film. Emmerich does have plans for a third Independence Day movie, but they are on hold as of now and unlikely to include Smith, as his character was killed off in Resurgence.
Independence Day, at the time of its release, boasted groundbreaking visual effects and hauled in over $800 million at the box office (a record back then). A sequel may have been a no-brainer at the time, but it may be too late now. Although it would be fun to see Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fight aliens again.
Roland Emmerich Returns to Apocalyptic Thriller Genre With Moonfall
Roland Emmerich’s latest film, Moonfall was released in theaters on February 4, 2022. The film stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and John Bradley as astronauts who must prevent the Moon from crashing into Earth.
A mysterious force has knocked the Moon from orbit, and it is hurtling towards Earth. Also, the Moon is hollow. That’s the premise of Moonfall. Unsurprisingly, the film is receiving mixed reviews from critics, although many agree that the film can be quite fun at times.
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About The Author
Mudit Chhikara
(172 Articles Published)
Mudit Chhikara is a news writer at MovieWeb. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics, but being a lifelong cinephile, Mudit decided to write about movies for a living.
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