Twentieth Century Fox has, according to Deadline, officially given the green light to the long-awaited Independence Day 2, putting the film on track for its previously announced June 24, 2016 release. That means that the alien invasion sequel will hit the big screen almost exactly 20 years after the original.
The studio is eyeing a May production start and will now move to close the directing deal with Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, White House Down). As was previously reported, Will Smith is not coming back for the sequel. Additional casting is planned to begin as soon as Emmerich’s deal is officially signed.
Right now, the studio has only given the green light to a single film. Previous updates have suggested that the studio would make two franchise sequels and film them back-to-back. Apparently, those planned have changed and any potential third film will be largely dependent on the second film’s success.
The outlet also reports that Carter Blanchard, best known for the short-lived 2009 series “G vs E,” rewrote the first draft of the script that was done by Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and then James Vanderbilt. Emmerich is also set to produced with Devlin and Harald Kloser.
The original Independence Day opened on July 3, 1996 and earned an impressive $817.4 million worldwide. As always, check back for updates on the sequel as they become available.
