For all the nuanced drama and touchy feely emotions that Hollywood is capable of, sometimes it’s smarter to simply go back to doing the thing they’re best at, which is blowing shit up.
And arguably no one has perfected the disaster porn genre better than Roland Emmerich. His cornerstone summer blockbuster, the Aliens vs America epic Independence Day, is arguably one of the most beloved big-budget films of the 90s, and helped launch the career of Will Smith into orbit.
Though a follow-up to the original has long been mooted, now it seems like things are starting to move along at something of a clip, with 20th Century Fox today announcing that a second ID4 (which we pray will be referred to as ID5) has officially been greenlit.
We know that Emmerich has long had tentative plans in place for a pair of sequels – at one point named ID Forever Part 1 and ID Forever Part 2 – but the project got stuck in developmental limbo as studios remained somewhat unenthused and Emmerich busied himself with cinematically destroying the planet repeatedly in efforts like The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. But following a rewrite of the script by Carter Blanchard – whose previous credits include very little of note outside of being a producers’ assistant on Saved By The Bell – it seems Fox’s interest has officially been piqued, and we’re finally off and running.
Though we know for sure that Will Smith will not be reprising his role as the Fresh Prince of Air, Captain Steven Hiller, outside of that little is known about any prospective cast. The next step in the process is to finalise Emmerich’s directing deal, after which casting will begin immediately. If Jeff Goldblum‘s phone doesn’t ring hot at that point there is simply no justice in this world.
All things being equal, cameras are now set to roll from next May, with the film’s long-held projected release date of June 24th, 2016 still holding true for the time being.
And if the military in the ID4 universe has learned anything, it’s look for the tiny hole in the hull of any approaching alien ship, for that is clearly where their weakness lies.
For now, the clock is ticking.
via Deadline.
