While promotingStargate in Europe, Emmerich conceived the film while answering a question about his belief in the existence of alien life. Devlin and Emmerich decided to incorporate a large-scale attack having noticed that aliens in most invasion films travel long distances in outer space only to remain hidden when reaching Earth. Shooting began on July 28, 1995, inNew York City, and the film was completed on October 8, 1995.
Considered a significant turning point in the history of theHollywoodblockbuster,Independence Day was at the forefront of the large-scaledisaster film and sci-fi resurgence of the mid-late 1990s. It was released worldwide on July 3, 1996, but began showing on July 2 (the same day the film's story begins) in original release as a result of a high level of anticipation among moviegoers. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for the performances, musical score and visual effects, but criticism for its characters. It grossed over $817.4 million worldwide,[2] becoming thehighest-grossing film of 1996 and thesecond-highest-grossing film ever at the time, behindJurassic Park (1993). The film won theAcademy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Sound.[4]
On July 2, 1996, an extraterrestrialmother ship enters Earth's orbit outside theMoon and deploys itsflying saucers, each 15 mi (24 km) in diameter, over major cities worldwide.U.S. Marine Captain Steven Hiller and his unit, theBlack Knights fighter squadron stationed out ofMCAS El Toro, are called back fromIndependence Dayleave; his girlfriend, Jasmine Dubrow, decides to fleeLos Angeles with her son, Dylan. Retired combat pilot Russell Casse, now an alcoholic single father and crop duster, sees this as vindication of thealien abduction he has been claiming for 10 years.
InNew York City, technician David Levinson decodes a signal embedded within global satellite transmissions, realizing that it is the aliens' countdown for a coordinated attack. Aided by his ex-wife,White House Communications Director Constance Spano, David and his father Julius reach theOval Office inWashington, D.C. and alertPresident Thomas Whitmore.
Whitmore orders evacuations of Los Angeles, New York City, and the District of Columbia, but it is too late. Each saucerfires a beam, incinerating every targeted city, killing millions. Whitmore, the Levinsons, and a few others barely escape aboardAir Force One while Jasmine, Dylan, and their dog Boomer take shelter in a tunnel's inspection alcove and escape the destruction of Los Angeles.
On July 3, Earth's military retaliations against the invaders are thwarted by the alien warships'force fields. Each saucer launches shielded fighters, devastating the human fighter squadrons and military bases, including Captain Hiller's. Hiller lures an enemy fighter into theGrand Canyon before ejecting from his plane, blinding the fighter using his parachute and causing the alien to crash in theMojave Desert. He subdues the downed alien and flags down a convoy of refugees, transporting the alien toArea 51, where Whitmore's plane has landed.
U.S. Defense Secretary Albert Nimziki reveals that a government faction has been involved in a UFO conspiracy since 1947, when one of the invaders' fighters crashed nearRoswell, New Mexico. Area 51 houses the refurbished ship and three alien corpses from the crash. Dr. Brackish Okun, the chief scientist, examines the alien captured by Steven, which awakens, telepathically invades Okun's mind, and psychically attacks Whitmore before the alien is killed by Secret Service agents and military personnel. Whitmore learns the invaders' plan from the psychic attack; they intend to annihilate Earth's inhabitants and harvest its natural resources, as they have done to other civilizations.
Whitmore reluctantly authorizes a trial nuclear attack against a saucer aboveHouston, but the saucer's force field protects it from damage, while Houston is destroyed by the blast. All subsequent nuclear attacks are aborted. Jasmine and Dylan commandeer a highway maintenance truck and rescue several survivors, including the badly injuredFirst Lady, Marilyn Whitmore. Hiller rescues them and takes them to Area 51, where Marilyn succumbs to her injuries after reuniting with her family.
On July 4, inspired by Julius, David plans to write acomputer virus on his laptop and upload it into the mothership'soperating system to disable the aliens' shield. Hiller volunteers to pilot the alien ship armed with a tactical nuclear weapon to destroy the mothership. TheU.S. military contacts the remaining forces and airborne squadrons throughMorse code to organize a unitedcounterattack. Lacking pilots, Whitmore and General William Grey enlist volunteers with flight experience, including Russell Casse from the refugee camp at Area 51, to fly the remaining jets. Hiller marries Jasmine, with David and Constance present, during which the divorced pair reconciles before leaving on the mission.
Entering the alien mother ship, they upload the virus and launch the nuclear missile, destroying it and the alien invasion force before narrowly escaping. With the shields down, Whitmore's squadron engages a saucer targeting the Area 51 base. They exhaust their ammunition, and as the saucer readies to fire, Russell sacrifices himself by crashing into its primary weapon, destroying the saucer. Grey orders notifications to resistance groups worldwide about the saucers' critical weakness, leading to their destruction.
As humanity celebrates its victory against the aliens, Hiller and David are rescued after surviving the crash, and are reunited with their families.
Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, aMarineF/A-18 pilot squadron leader with the Black Knight squadron atMarine Corps Air Station El Toro and aspiring astronaut. The role was originally offered toEthan Hawke, but he turned it down, as he thought the script was terrible.[5] Devlin and Emmerich had always envisioned an African-American for the role,[6] and specifically wanted Smith after seeing his performance inSix Degrees of Separation.[7]
Randy Quaid as Russell Casse, an eccentric, alcoholic former fighter pilot andVietnam War veteran. He insists that he wasabducted by the aliens whilecrop dusting ten years prior to the film's events, shortly after completing his military service.
Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Dubrow, Steven Hiller's girlfriend and mother of Dylan Dubrow.
James Rebhorn as Albert Nimziki, the Secretary of Defense and, as formerCIA Director, is a member of a governmental faction who are aware of the aliens' existence due to the ship recovered at Roswell. Not well-liked, lying, arrogant, selfish, crooked, and often at odds with idealists such as Whitmore and Grey, Nimziki embodies the stereotypical corrupt politician and his ambition is to be elected as president himself. Rebhorn described the character as being much likeOliver North.[11] The character's eventual firing lampoons Joe Nimziki,[12]MGM's head of advertising, who made life unpleasant for Devlin and Emmerich when studio executives forced recuts ofStargate.[13]
Harvey Fierstein as Marty Gilbert, David Levinson's coworker at Compact Cable Television Company who is killed in the NYC attack.
Adam Baldwin as Major Mitchell,USAF, Area 51's commanding officer and thus a member of a governmental faction who are aware of the aliens' existence. During the interstellar war, he becomes a trusted ally to Thomas Whitmore's party.
Brent Spiner as Dr. Brackish Okun, the unkempt and highly excitable scientist in charge of research at Area 51. The character's appearance and verbal style are based upon those of visual effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun, with whom Emmerich had worked onStargate.[14]
James Duval as Miguel Casse, the oldest son of Russell Casse.
Bill Smitrovich as Lt. Colonel Watson, the commanding officer of the Black Knights.
Kiersten Warren as Tiffani, friend and co-worker of Jasmine who is killed in the LA attack.
Harry Connick Jr. as Marine Captain Jimmy Wilder, fellow fighter pilot and friend of Steven, killed in the Black Knight counterattack. Connick took over the role fromMatthew Perry who was originally cast in the role.
Mae Whitman as Patricia Whitmore, the daughter of President Thomas J. Whitmore and First Lady Marilyn Whitmore.[15]
Ross Bagley as Dylan Dubrow, Jasmine Dubrow's son and Steven Hiller's stepson.
Lisa Jakub as Alicia Casse, the daughter of Russell Casse.
The idea for the film came whenRoland Emmerich andDean Devlin were in Europe promoting their filmStargate in 1994. A reporter asked Emmerich why he made a film with content likeStargate if he did not believe in aliens. Emmerich stated he was still fascinated by the idea of an alien arrival, and further explained his response by asking the reporter to imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and to discover 15-mile-wide spaceships were hovering over the world's largest cities. Emmerich then turned to Devlin and said, "I think I have an idea for our next film."[9][16][17]
Emmerich and Devlin decided to expand on the idea by incorporating a large-scale attack, with Devlin saying he was bothered by the fact that "for the most part, in alien invasion movies, they come down to Earth and they're hidden in some back field …[o]r they arrive in little spores and inject themselves into the back of someone's head."[18] Emmerich agreed by asking Devlin if arriving from across the galaxy, "would you hide on a farm or would you make a big entrance?"[18] The two wrote the script during a month-long vacation in Mexico,[16] and just one day after they sent it out for consideration,20th Century Fox chairmanPeter Cherningreenlit the screenplay.[13]Pre-production began just three days later in February 1995.[9][16] TheU.S. military originally intended to provide personnel, vehicles, and costumes for the film; however, they backed out when the producers refused to remove the script'sArea 51 references.[9][19]
A then-record 3,000-plus special effects shots would ultimately be required for the film.[17] The shoot usedon-set andin-camera special effects more often thancomputer-generated effects in an effort to save money and get more authentic pyrotechnic results.[9] Many of these shots were accomplished atHughes Aircraft inCulver City, California, where the film's art department,motion control photography teams,pyrotechnics team, and model shop were headquartered[dubious –discuss]. The production's model-making department built more than twice as many miniatures for the production than had ever been built for any film before by creating miniatures for buildings, city streets, aircraft, landmarks, and monuments.[20] The crew also built miniatures for several of the spaceships featured in the film, including a 30-foot (9.1 m) destroyer model[21] and a version of the mother ship spanning 12 feet (3.7 m).[22] City streets were recreated, then tilted upright beneath a high-speed camera mounted on a scaffolding filming downwards. An explosion would be ignited below the model, and flames would rise towards the camera, engulfing the tilted model and creating the rolling "wall of destruction" look seen in the film.[23] A model of theWhite House was also created, covering 10 feet (3.0 m) by 5 feet (1.5 m), and was used in forced-perspective shots before being destroyed in a similar fashion for its destruction scene.[24] The detonation took a week to plan[13] and required 40 explosive charges.[24]
TheLittle Colorado Rivercanyon; aWorld War II training aircraft with a camera mounted on its front navigated through the walls of the canyon and the footage was used as pilot point-of-view shots.[25]
The film's aliens were designed by production designerPatrick Tatopoulos. The actual aliens in the film are diminutive and based on a design Tatopoulos drew when tasked by Emmerich to create an alien that was "both familiar and completely original".[26] These creatures wear "bio-mechanical" suits that are based on another design Tatopoulospitched to Emmerich. These suits were 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, equipped with 25 tentacles, and purposely designed to show it could not sustain a person inside, so it would not appear to be a "man in a suit".[27]
Christopher Weaver, founder of video game publisherBethesda Softworks consulted with the movie's production team, Centropolis Films, and provided scientific collaboration.[28] Dean Devlin used Weaver as the basis for the film character David Levinson.[28][29]
Principal photography began on July 28, 1995, in New York City. A second unit gathered plate shots andestablishing shots of Manhattan, Washington, D.C., anRV community inFlagstaff, Arizona, and theVery Large Array on thePlains of San Agustin,New Mexico.[27] The main crew also filmed in nearbyCliffside Park, New Jersey before moving to the formerKaiser Steel mill inFontana, California to film the post-attack Los Angeles sequences.[30] The production then moved toWendover, Utah, andWest Wendover, Nevada,[31] where the deserts doubled forImperial Valley, and theWendover Airport doubled for theEl Toro and Area 51 exteriors.[32] It was here where Pullman filmed his pre-battle speech. Immediately before filming the scene, Devlin and Pullman decided to add "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!" to the end of the speech. At the time, the production was nicknamed "ID4" becauseWarner Bros. owned the rights to the title because of a film from 1983 which is also calledIndependence Day. Devlin had hoped that if Fox executives noticed the addition indailies, the impact of the new dialogue would help them to win the rights to the title.[9] Pullman had stated in a 2020 interview that Fox had otherwise been aiming to useDoomsday for the film's release to match with other disaster films of the time, and Devlin and Emmerich had hoped the impact of this speech scene would help win Fox over to theIndependence Day name.[33] The right to use the title was eventually won two weeks later.[13]
The production team moved to theBonneville Salt Flats to film three scenes, then returned to California to film in various places around Los Angeles, including Hughes Aircraft where sets for the cable company and Area 51 interiors were constructed at a former aircraft plant. Sets for the latter included corridors containing windows that were covered with blue material. The filmmakers originally intended to use thechroma key technique to make it appear as if an activity was happening on the other side of the glass, but thecomposited images were not added to the final print because production designers decided the blue panels gave the sets a "clinical look".[34] The attacker hangar set contained an attackermockup 65 feet (20 m) wide[20] that took four months to build.[13] The White House interior sets used had already been built forThe American President and had previously been used forNixon.[24] Principal photography completed on October 8, 1995, after 72 days of filming.[citation needed]. In addition to reusing the White House interior sets, the production also reused sets from previous movies with the B-3 stealth bomber cockpit fromBroken Arrow and the US nuclear submarine sets fromDown Periscope andCrimson Tide being prime examples.
The film initially depicted Russell Casse being rejected as a volunteer for the July 4 aerial counteroffensive because of his alcoholism. He then uses a stolen missile tied to his redbiplane to carry out his suicide mission. According to Dean Devlin, test audiences responded well to the scene's irony and comedic value.[9] However, the scene was re-shot to include Russell's acceptance as a volunteer, his crash course on flying modern fighter aircraft, and him flying an F/A-18 instead of the biplane. Devlin preferred the alteration because the viewer now witnesses Russell ultimately making the decision to sacrifice his life.[9]
TheGrammy Award-winning[35] score for the film was composed byDavid Arnold and recorded with an orchestra of 90, a choir of 46, "and every last ounce of stereotypical Americana he could muster for the occasion".[36] The film's producer Dean Devlin commented that "you can leave it up to a Brit to write some of the most rousing and patriotic music in the history of American cinema."[36] The soundtrack has received two official CD releases.RCA released a 50-minute album at the time of the film's release, then in 2010, La-La Land Records andFox Music released a limited-edition, two-disc CD set that comprised the complete score plus 12 alternate cues.[37] The premiere ofIndependence Day live took place at theRoyal Albert Hall in September 2016, with the film's score performed live for a screening of the film.[38] This celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the film's release, and the event also featured a pre-film talk by David Arnold.
WhileIndependence Day was still in post-production, Fox began an expensive marketing campaign to help promote the film, beginning with the airing of a dramatic commercial duringSuper Bowl XXX, for which it paid $1.3 million.[39] The film's subsequent success at the box office resulted in a trend of usingSuper Bowl air time to begin the advertising campaigns for potential blockbusters.[40][41]
Fox's Licensing and Merchandising division also entered into co-promotional deals withApple Inc. The co-marketing project was dubbed "The Power to Save the World" campaign, in which the company used footage of David using hisPowerBook 5300 laptop in their print and television advertisements.[42]Trendmasters entered a merchandising deal with the film's producers to create a line oftie-in toys.[43] In exchange forproduct placement, Fox also entered into co-promotional deals withMolson Coors Brewing Company andCoca-Cola.[44]
The film was marketed with several taglines, including: "We've always believed we weren't alone. On July 4, we'll wish we were", "Earth. Take a good look. It could be your last", and "Don't make plans for August". The weekend before the film's release, theFox Network aired a half-hour special on the film, the first third of which was a spoof news report on the events that happen in the film.Roger Ebert attributed most of the film's early success to itsteaser trailers and marketing campaigns, acknowledging them as "truly brilliant".[45]
The shot of the White House's destruction was the focus of the film's marketing campaign. A fleeing helicopter was added to the shot in the final print.
The film had its official premiere held at Los Angeles' now-defunct Mann Plaza Theater on June 25, 1996.[46] It was then screened privately at the White House for PresidentBill Clinton and his family[47] before receiving a nationwide release in the United States on July 2, 1996, a day earlier than its previously scheduled opening.[48]
InLebanon, certain Jewish- and Israel-related content in the film was censored. One cut scene involved Judd Hirsch's character donning akippah, and leading soldiers and White House officials in a Jewish prayer. Other removed footage showed Israeli and Arab troops working together in preparation for countering the alien invasion. The LebaneseShi'aIslamistmilitant groupHezbollah called for Muslims to boycott the film, describing it as "propaganda for the so-called genius of the Jews and their concern for humanity." In response, Jewish actor Jeff Goldblum said: "I think Hezbollah has missed the point. The film is not about American Jews saving the world; it's about teamwork among people of different religions and nationalities to defeat a common enemy."[49][50]
After a six-week, $30 million marketing campaign,Independence Day was released on aTHX certifiedVHS on November 22, 1996.[51][52] ALaserDisc release came out at roughly the same time, which included audio commentary, theatrical trailers, deleted scenes, and a bundled soundtrack CD.[53] The film sold 22 million copies in North America, becoming thebest selling live-action video.[54]
The film became available onDVD on June 27, 2000, and has since been re-released in several different versions of this format with varying supplemental material, including one instance where it was packaged with alenticular cover.[55] A special edition of the film was included on the DVD as well, which features nine minutes of additional footage not seen in the original theatrical release.[55][56] A single-disc DVD version of the film was released alongsideCast Away on May 21, 2002.[57]Independence Day became available onBlu-ray in the United Kingdom on December 24, 2007,[58] and in North America on March 11, 2008[59] and in Australia on March 5, 2008.[60] The initial single-disc releases only feature the theatrical cut and a few extras, as per the single-disc DVDs. For its 2016 twentieth anniversary, the film was re-released on two-disc Blu-ray and DVD, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and Digital HD.[61][62] The 20th-anniversary editions feature both the theatrical and extended versions,[63] all the extras of the previous 2-disc DVDs and more.[64]
The film had both its twentieth anniversary and premiere at a special live-orchestral screening performance at theRoyal Albert Hall on September 22, 2016. TheRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the original orchestrator Nicholas Dodd, performed the score live during the film, and the film's composer,David Arnold, was a presenter at the event.[67][38]
One of the film's creatures on the cover of the July 1, 1996, issue ofTime.
Independence Day was the highest-grossing film of 1996, surpassing bothTwister andMission: Impossible.[2] The film had its preview screenings on July 2, 1996, grossing $11.1 million from 2,433 theaters. At that point, it had the biggest pre-opening of any film, breaking the six-year record held byDie Hard 2. The next day on July 3, the film officially opened to the public with $17.4 million.[68] During its second day of release, it earned $17.3 million, which made it the highest Thursday gross, holding this record for six years until it was taken byStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in 2002.[69] This was also the highest non-sequel Thursday gross, which would last until the opening ofTransformers in 2007.[70]Independence Day earned $104.3 million in its opening week,[71] including $96.1 million during its five-day holiday opening, and $50.2 million during its opening weekend.[72] The film stayed in the number-one spot for three consecutive weeks before being displaced byA Time to Kill.[73][2] Moreover, it beatTerminator 2: Judgment Day's record for largest five-day Wednesday gross of any film, as well as the biggest July opening weekend.[74] The combined total for the five-day Wednesday opening with ticket sales increased to $190 million, dethroning the $158.6 million record formerly held byToy Story.[75] In addition, the film had the second-highest opening weekend of any movie, behindBatman Forever.[76] All three figures broke records set byJurassic Park three years earlier,[71] whose successor,The Lost World: Jurassic Park, claimed all three records when it was released in 1997.[77] That same year,Men in Black surpassedIndependence Day for highest July opening weekend and largest three-day Fourth of July opening weekend.[78] Despite this, the film would continue to hold the record for having the highest five-day Fourth of July Wednesday opening untilMen in Black II in 2002.[79]
Independence Day earned over $150 million in 12 days, becoming the quickest film to do so.[80] In 21 days, it became the fastest film to approach the $200 million mark.[81] The film would hold this record for three years until it was surpassed byStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 1999.[82] By the end of July 1996,Independence Day had lost 38% of its audience, but it was able to topGhostbusters,Aladdin,Mrs. Doubtfire andGhost, becoming the fourteenth-highest domestic grossing film of all time.[83] It reached $230 million within the first month of release,[84] and on August 9, crossed the $250 million mark.[85] Halfway through the month, it became the eighth-highest domestic grosser, beatingJaws.[86]
Independence Day grossed $306,169,268 in the United States and Canada and $511,231,623 in other territories during its theatrical run.[2] The combined worldwide total of $817,400,891 surpassedThe Lion King, second only to the worldwide earnings ofJurassic Park as the highest of all time.[87][88][89] For over 20 years, the film would hold the record for being the highest-grossing film starringWill Smith until 2019 when it was surpassed by the live-action version ofAladdin.[90] The domestic record was beaten bySuicide Squad three years earlier in 2016.[91] In the UK, the film grossed £7,005,905 in itsopening weekend (including £939,022 from previews), surpassingJurassic Park's record of £4.9 million.[92] The film grossed a record $10.5 million in its opening weekend in Germany and also beat the opening record in France.[93][94]Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 69.26 million tickets in the US and Canada.[95] Hoping to capitalize on the film's success, several studios released large-scaledisaster films,[96] and the already rising interest in science fiction-related media was further increased by the film's popularity.[47]
A month after the film's release, jewelry designers and marketing consultants reported an increased interest indolphin-themed jewelry, as the character Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) wears dolphin earrings, and is presented with a wedding ring featuring a gold dolphin.[97]
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports that 69% of 80 surveyed critics gaveIndependence Day a positive review; the average rating is 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The plot is thin and so is character development, but as a thrilling, spectacle-filled summer movie,Independence Day delivers."[98] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[99] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[100]
Critics wrote that the film has "cardboard" and "stereotypical" characters,[6][48][101][102][103] and weak dialogue.[96][103][104][105] However, the shot of the White House's destruction was declared a milestone in visual effects and one of the most memorable scenes of the 1990s.[106][107] In a 2010 poll, readers ofEntertainment Weekly rated it the second-greatest summer film of the previous 20 years, ranking only behindJurassic Park.[108]
Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle gave the film his highest rating, declaring it the "apotheosis" of comic book space adventure movies.[48] Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly gave it a B+ for living up to its massive hype, adding "charm is the foremost of this epic's contemporary characteristics. The script is witty, knowing, cool."[102] Eight years later,Entertainment Weekly rated the film as one of the best disaster films of all time.[96]Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times felt that the film did an "excellent job conveying the boggling immensity of [the] extraterrestrial vehicles […] and panic in the streets" and the scenes of the alien attack were "disturbing, unsettling and completely convincing".[6]
The film's nationalistic overtones were widely criticized by reviewers outside the U.S.Movie Review UK described the film as "a mish-mash of elements from a wide variety ofalien invasion movies and gung-ho Americanjingoism."[109] The speech during which Whitmore states that victory in the coming war would see the entire world henceforth describe July 4 as itsIndependence Day, was described in aBBC review as "the most jaw-droppingly pompoussoliloquy ever delivered in a mainstream Hollywood movie."[110] In 2003, readers ofEmpire voted that scene as the "Cheesiest Movie Moment of All-Time".[111]Empire criticKim Newman had given the film afive-star rating in the magazine's original review.[99]
Several critics were disappointed by the special effects.Newsweek'sDavid Ansen claimed they were no better than those seen nineteen years earlier inStar Wars.[103] Todd McCarthy ofVariety felt the production's budget-conscious approach resulted in "cheesy" shots, lacking the quality of effects in films byJames Cameron andSteven Spielberg.[46]Roger Ebert noted a lack of imagination in the spaceship and creature designs.[112]Gene Siskel expressed the same sentiments in hisAt the Movies review.[45][dead link]
Disaster elements portrayed inTwister andIndependence Day (both in 1996) represented a significant turning point for Hollywoodblockbuster films. With advancements inCGI special effects, events depicting mass destruction became commonplace in films that soon followed, such asDante's Peak andVolcano (both in 1997), as well asDeep Impact andArmageddon (both in 1998). The trend resumed from the mid-2000s to 2010s, evident in three of Emmerich's films titledThe Day After Tomorrow (2004),2012 (2009), andWhite House Down (2013), as well as other blockbusters likeTransformers (2007) andThe Avengers (2012).[118]
Author Stephen Molstad wrote atie-in novel to help promote the film shortly before its release. The novel goes into further detail on the characters, situations, and overall concepts not explored in the film. The novel presents the film's finale as originally scripted, with the character played byRandy Quaid stealing a missile and roping it to hiscropduster biplane.
Following the film's success, aprequel novel entitledIndependence Day: Silent Zone was written by Molstad in February 1998.[119] The novel is set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and details the early career of Dr. Brackish Okun.[120]
Molstad wrote a third novel,Independence Day: War in the Desert in July 1999. Set inSaudi Arabia on July 3, it centers around the twoRoyal Air Force officers seen receiving theMorse code message in the film.[121] AMarvel comic book was also written based on the first two novelizations.[122]
On August 4, 1996,BBC Radio 1 broadcast the one-hour playIndependence Day UK, written, produced, and directed byDirk Maggs, a spin-off depicting the alien invasion from a British perspective.[123] None of the original cast was present. Dean Devlin gave Maggs permission to produce an original version, on the condition that he did not reveal certain details of the movie's plot, and that the British were not depicted as saving the day.[123]Independence Day UK was set up to be similar to the 1938 radio broadcast ofThe War of the Worlds—the first 20 minutes were live.[123]
In 1996 a "behind-the-scenes"multimediaCD-ROM titledInside Independence Day was released forMicrosoft Windows andMacintosh; it includes storyboards for the film, sketches, movie clips, and a preview of theIndependence Day video game.[124]
AnIndependence Day video game was released in February 1997 for thePlayStation,Sega Saturn, andPC, each version receiving mostly tepid reviews.[125] The multi-view shooter game contains various missions to perform, with the ultimate goal of destroying the aliens' primary weapon. Apinball machine themed to the film was released bySega in June 1996.[126] Plus, a wirelessmobile version was released in 2005.
Trendmasters released a toy line for the film in 1996.[127] Each action figure, vehicle or playset came with a3+1⁄2 inchfloppy disk that contained an interactive computer game.[128]
In June 2011, Devlin confirmed that he and Emmerich had written a treatment for twosequels to form a trilogy; both expressed the desire forWill Smith to return.[129] In October 2011, however, discussions over Smith returning were halted, due to Fox's refusal to provide the $50 million salary demanded by Smith for the two sequels. Emmerich, however, made assurances that the films would be shotback-to-back, regardless of Smith's involvement.[130]
In March 2013, Emmerich stated that the titles of the new films would beID: Forever – Part I andID: Forever – Part II.[131] In November 2014, the sequel was given the green light by 20th Century Fox, with a release date of June 24, 2016. This would be a stand-alone sequel, that would not split into two parts as originally planned, with filming beginning in May 2015 and casting being done after the studio locked down Emmerich as the director of the film.[132] In December 2014, Devlin confirmed that Emmerich would indeed be directing the sequel.[133] On June 22, 2015, Emmerich announced the official title,Independence Day: Resurgence.[134]
With respect to Smith's decision not to return to film a sequel, Emmerich told Screen Crush that: "In the very beginning, I wanted to work with him and he was excited to be in it but then after a while he was tired of sequels, and he did another science fiction film, which was his father-son storyAfter Earth, so he opted out."[135]
Independence Day: Resurgence was released on June 24, 2016. The sequel, unlike the original, was both a critical and commercial failure, making further sequels unlikely. Furthermore, in March 2018, LRM Online reported that, after having met producer Dean Devlin atWonderCon and asking about the status ofIndependence Day 3, Devlin told them "I don't know. I don't know. Currently, I personally have no plans of doing another one."[136][137] One year later, Emmerich stated that onceThe Walt Disney Company purchased Fox he thought the chances of a third movie were over, but still had hopes that the project could happen given Disney's preference for franchise films.[138]
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