Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Jaden Smith.
Credit: Getty Images
The first update to the 1996 smash hit, “Independence Day,” will be in theaters next year. Remember that movie? That was Will Smith, right?
Well, it was confirmed via director Roland Emmerich in an interview with NY Daily News that he’ll be overseeing the follow-up to the blockbuster but without one certain bold-faced name.
“Will Smith cannot come back because he’s too expensive, but he’d also be too much of a marquee name,” Emmerich said. “We have like, maybe half of the people that, you know, would know from the first film (in the script) and the other half of the people who are new.”
According to Emmerich, the plan is to turn “Independence Day” into a franchise with two films currently in the works, entitled “ID Forever, Part 1” and “ID Forever, Part 2.”
If launching a sequel 22 years after the original seems weird, it is. Emmerich agrees.
“We’re not doing a total reboo, we’re doing something that’s totally unusual,” he said.
