Back-to-Back Sequels to INDEPENDENCE DAY are still coming
The last couple of years we've been hearing that Roland Emmerich's Independence Day was going to be getting a couple of sequels. Today we have word that Emmerich and his old producing and screenwriting partner Dean Devlin are currently putting the finishing touches on the back-to-back sequel scripts that they have been developing, and they hope to have it turned into the studio by December. At this point there's still no information of if Will Smith will be back to reprise his role as Captain Stephen Hiller. Fox has been trying to get him to sign on to the project since 2009, and the reason a deal hasn't been made yet is because the actor wants $50 freakin million dollars, which just seems ridiculous for any actor.
According to an insider, "The delay wasn’t about whether they both wanted to make the movie. It had more to do with whose dick is bigger." Apparently Fox is willing to make the movies without Smith, if they need to, but Smith would bring in the big money.
Smith is currently shooting Men in Black III and is also loosely attached to star in M. Night Shaymalan's film One Thousand A.E. with his son Jaden, but the production on that is moving incredibly slow. So if Smith did decide to make the movie he's not really fully committed to anything. The source also says,
It’s complicated because of where and how [Smith] wants to shoot; he wants to be close to home, to the kids. 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.
Look, I'm sure Smith's kids will be just fine if they don't get a part in a film their dad is in. There's not much known about the sequels but Vulture says that, they will tell a single story, but will be engineered more in the Back to the Future Parts 2 and 3 sequential-but-not-imperative model than like the last two Harry Potters, which was essentially one movie split in two. As the insider puts it, “They’re intended to be fulfilling movies onto themselves — you could see each separately and enjoy them — but they tell one big story.” Roland previous siad that Smiths character could end up being the President of the United States, and that It would be "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."
What do you think about all this? Would you like to see Smith return to the franchise or do you even care to see any other films?