If you were in any doubt – and why would you be? – that Independence Day 2 was going to happen, then Fox has something to tell you. It’s happening. Whether you like it or not, Roland Emmerich will be bringing the aliens back to the big screen. How do we know? In the most unpredictable move this year, Fox has set the release date for Independence Day 2 as … July 3, 2015.
Bam. There’s no immediate word on whether this whole thing is going to transpire the way that Emmerich hinted it would, with a two-part sequel – in the old days, we called that a trilogy – entitled ID Forever Part I and ID Forever Part II. For right now, everyone seems to be calling it Independence Day 2, with no reference to it being two films. No, this is not needlessly confusing.
There’s as yet any no word on whether the film(s) will reunite folks from 1996’s Independence Day. Of great concern would be the return of Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, whose bromance kinda made that movie. Given that Goldblum has been spending a lot of time chilling with Wes Anderson and Smith is wrapped up in making bad sci-fi movies, who knows.
In related Fox news, the company has moved around the release dates for a number of films. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been moved to July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days Of Future Past takes over the May 23 slot, Assassin’s Creed with Michael Fassbender has gone to June 19, 2015, while Peregrine’s Home For Peculiars takes July 31, 2015. Everyone clear on this? Good. I won’t repeat it.
With Independence Day 2 occupying a proper time slot, it looks like the film will begin to move towards production. Given that Emmerich has been talking about it for almost nineteen years, I guess it’s about time.