Summary
- Will Smith's absence and scheduling conflicts led to the decline of Independence Day 3.
- The poor box office performance and critical reception of Independence Day: Resurgence halted the franchise's future.
- Director Roland Emmerich hopes to revive the franchise with Independence Day 3 on Disney+.
Still, to this day, there's been no confirmation of alien invasion/disaster movie persists as a sci-fi action cult classic and has cemented Will Smith as a bona fide movie star for his portrayal of the lead character, Steven Hiller.
Despite Independence Day's legacy of success, it took Emmerich and Devlin 20 years to deliver a sequel. 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, set two decades after the initial movie, brought back original stars Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman but mainly focused on a new, younger group of characters and expanded the universe for future franchise sequels. Unfortunately, Will Smith turned down the Independence Day: Resurgence opportunity, and his character was killed offscreen; the loss of the franchise's principal protagonist was a major blow to the second chapter, which ultimately bombed at the box office.
Will Smith cited scheduling conflicts for his absence from Independence Day: Resurgence.
Independence Day 2's Original Story Plans With Will Smith Revealed By Writer
Independence Day 2 writer-producer Dean Devlin reveals the Rocky III-like plans he and Roland Emmerich had for the story before Will Smith left.
Independence Day: Resurgence's Box Office & Reviews Is Why Independence Day 3 Never Happened
Resurgence's Poor Reception Cemented The Franchise's Fate
Independence Day 3 plans ground to a halt when Resurgence turned out to be a box office bomb. The sequel opened on June 24th, 2016 (as opposed to the July 4th weekend like the original) and only grossed $41 million in its first weekend, $9 million less than the first did 20 years prior. In the end, Resurgence only grossed $103 million in North America and totaled $389 million worldwide, far less than the original's $817 million worldwide gross. The fact that Resurgence's budget was more than twice the first movie's budget at $165 million exacerbated its measly profit results.
The reception of critics and audiences corroborated Resurgence's poor box office numbers. For example, on Rotten Tomatoes, Resurgence received a 29% critics score and a 30% audience score, indicating very few were impressed with the sequel or won over by the new characters. Because Resurgence's box office numbers and overall reception were in such contrast to the original movie, Independence Day 3 just couldn't be justified. Yet, before the franchise's future halted indefinitely, Emmerich had crafted Resurgence as a springboard for further installments.
Title |
Domestic Box Office |
Worldwide Box Office |
RT Critics Score |
RT Audience Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Independence Day: Resurgence |
$103,144,286 |
$384,169,424 |
29% |
30% |
Independence Day |
$817,400,878 |
$817,400,878 |
68% |
75% |
How Resurgence Set Up Independence Day 3
Resurgence Was The Start Of Emmerich's Intergalactic Vision
Resurgence was the first of what could have been a series of Independence Day films that would take the story in a whole new direction. Resurgence sees humanity face the Harvesters again in a larger invasion of Earth than in the original movie. Also visiting Earth during Resurgence is an extraterrestrial AI, known as The Sphere, serving as a liaison between humanity and a coalition of alien lifeforms who'd fallen to the Harvesters before. Privy to the Harvester's hostile agenda to cull and destroy planets, survivors of the Harvester's previous invasions call on humanity to their resistance efforts.
Together, humanity and their new alliance would have taken the fight against the Harvesters straight to their home world.
After humanity defeats Earth's invading Harvesters in Resurgence, the franchise hoped to depict the new generation of heroes in the Earth Space Defense - Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth), Dylan Hiller (Jessie Usher), Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe), and Dr. David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) - partnering with the coalition of alien species in Independence Day 3. Together, humanity and their new alliance would have taken the fight against the Harvesters straight to their home world. Having the battle of intergalactic proportions extend out into space would have fed not only Independence Day 3's story but also the stories of potential future franchise installments.
Independence 3 Plans Explained
Independence Day 3 Has No Confirmation In Sight
To fulfill the franchise's "intergalactic story" to his desires, Emmerich planned for Independence Day 3 to branch forward from Resurgence's characters in a storyline set "a year or two later" (via all of Resurgence's cast. Emmerich's interstellar aspirations also indicate that Independence Day 3 would've been full of new alien species and sci-fi wonders on top of an inflated scale of battle. However, since it's been so long since Resurgence and little movement within the franchise, any previously established Independence Day 3 plans would have to be amended.
The franchise will have to consider whether pursuing the precursory plans of Independence Day 3, that is, rallying all the former cast or pursuing Resurgence's storyline after being so badly received, will hurt or help itself in the end. That said, the franchise's considerations are irrelevant if Independence Day 3 never happens, and so far, it's not looking all that great for the threequel. There is no confirmation of an Independence Day 3 release date or reports of it going into production.
What Director Roland Emmerich Has Said About Independence Day 3
Emmerich Hopes To Forge Forward With Independence Day 3 Via Disney+
While the threequel doesn't look like it'll be seeing the light of day anytime soon, Emmerich hopes to make Independence Day 3, specifically for Disney+, at some point in the future. His unexpected ambition for the franchise came in an interview where he expressed how Independence Day 3 would satisfy the streaming service's need for product while fulfilling his ion to see it come to fruition. Disney's success in streaming means that Emmerich's judgment does hold great weight, and Independence Day 3 may benefit from finding a home there.
Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, gaining the film rights for Independence Day.
Resurgence's poor run on the big screen will likely deter audiences from taking another chance on the franchise in theaters. A streaming release - especially now when reboots and revivals on small screens have become big crowd-pullers - could give Independence Day 3 the edge it needs to bring the franchise back into favor. Emmerich certainly has a lot of enthusiasm and direction for Independence Day 3, and it could end up being enough not only for Disney to jumpstart the film but for it to turn out even better than the last.
Source: The Numbers, Rotten Tomatoes, Collider
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Independence Day
8/10- Release Date
- July 3, 1996
- Runtime
- 145 minutes
- Director
- Roland Emmerich
Cast
Bill Pullman
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYRoland Emmerich's iconic 1996 sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day chronicles the attack of a hostile race of aliens against planet Earth. When extraterrestrial aircraft occupy Earth without warning, the forces of humanity quickly band together to stop them. At the behest of President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), US Marine pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and satellite engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) organize humanity's last-ditch counterattack against the technologically-advanced alien mothership.
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Independence Day: Resurgence
4/10- Release Date
- June 24, 2016
- Runtime
- 120 minutes
- Director
- Roland Emmerich
Cast
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Bill Pullman
Sela Ward
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYSet 20 years after the original, this sequel to Independence Day sees the nations of Earth use the alien technology to develop an advanced defense system for the planet. But nothing can prepare them for an unprecedented force of alien attackers out for revenge. It's up to a few brave men and women to save the world from extraterrestrials once more.
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