Over the last few years, director Roland Emmerich has spoke a lot about a potential sequel (or two) to his 1996 box office hit, Independence Day. Back in early 2010 it was reported that Emmerich had signed on for two back-to-back sequels, and in late 2010 he was even dropping hints about the possible storyline saying, Will Smith‘s character may be the President of the United States in the sequels.
Emmerich said at the time,
“It’s an alternate reality kind of movie. We pick up the story, what would have happened after this kind of attack? Naturally, the alien technology has changed everything.”
Did they rebuild the White House? Who will be president?
“Or, who will be president? Who Will be president? See?”
Now it seems Will may not even be a part of the sequels. NYMag reports that Will Smith has reportedly asked 20th Century Fox for $50 million to star in the sequels, which the studio declined. Casting negotiations were apparently halted to focus on the scripts, which Dean Devlin is said to be turning into the studio in December, and it seems Fox may be willing to go ahead and make the sequels without Smith, if necessary.
Their spy says that money wasn’t Smith’s only issue:
“It’s complicated because of where and how [Smith] wants to shoot; he wants to be close to home, to the kids,” explains our spy, adding, “There’s also been talks about him wanting to include Jada and maybe even Willow in the movie, too. [Sony] just managed to get through the mire that was Men in Black 3, and so they’re just trying to avoid anything remotely similar. They want the story straight, and want Will to sign off on it, totally, before they proceed.”
[The Shakedown]
I mean no disrespect to Will Smith, I’m a fan of almost everything he’s done but, is he outta his damn mind? Quite frankly, I was more interested in hearing if Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman would be returning. I know Pullman’s working on Torchwood: Miracle Day now, but the only thing that I would grant him leave from an ID4 sequel for, would be *Spaceballs 2!
No production or release dates have been announced for Independence Day 2 and Independence Day 3.
*Spaceballs 2 is not a real project (that we know of).
