A sequel outline for "Independence Day," was written in 2004 by the original director Ronald Emmerich and original writer; Dean Devlin...but for some reason the script never saw the light of day. Why is this?
In 2008, a contributor for "IESB.net;" Robert Sanchez, had the opportunity to speak with the CEO of 20th Century Fox Tom Rothman who explained the supposed reason behind the stalling of a sequel.
"We would love to do it, it's really a matter of Roland, it's up to Roland. He knows that we'd love to do it. I don't think there is a script but there have been a lot of ideas, but the truth of the matter is he's been making other films. He made "Day After Tomorrow" for us, big hit movie; he's doing '2012' for Sony. But, any day that Roland wanted to do that, we would be very excited to do it because I think, yes, that story definitely can and should continue," Rothman stated.
So there you have it folks, the lack of a sequel to a film that earned over $800 million at the box office is due to the director not being on board as well as script concerns...but wait, this doesn't seem to be the full story.
Thanks to Latinoreview.com, they had the opportunity to speak with Emmerich on the matter. When asked about the script being written and yet no sequel has been made, he had this to say.
"Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we’ve found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean’s and my deal, and Will’s (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it's just been in negations now since forever, and naturally FOX says 'Why don’t you do it without Will Smith?' I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it's in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who’s worth his gross. So we’ll see what happens. I would love to do it," he explained.
So doing a sequel without Will smith is justifiable in the eyes of Fox? Really?
When Emmerich was asked to confirm that he does indeed have a solid story and whether or not he could elaborate on the synopsis, he confirmed a solid story has been written but there's no way he could release the synopsis without upsetting Devlin, which is understandable.
So after years, the truth has finally come out involving the lack of a sequel to "Independence Day." I'm not really surprised...disappointed, but not surprised.
