22 Nov – Despite the recent trend for film studios to re-release classic blockbusters in 3D, 20th Century Fox has decided to forgo their plans to do so for director Roland Emmerich's 1996 sci-fi classic "Independence Day", instead planning for two more instalments for the film, according to Examiner.
Initially, Fox's plans were to present a re-tooled version of the disaster movie in cinemas on 3 July in U.S. next year, in conjunction with U.S. Independence Day celebrations. The studio's sudden withdrawal from the 3D trend without reason shocked many, but recently, it has been said that they have bigger plans, which is to create a film franchise for "Independence Day" by producing two sequels titled "ID Forever – Part 1" and "ID Forever – Part 2", respectively.
Acclaimed American producer Dean Devlin, who wrote the screenplay of "Independence Day" with Emmerich said that he was thrilled to work with the latter once again.
"I can tell you that Roland and I will be working together for the first time in 11 years and we're very excited about the idea of doing it," said Devlin.
He added, "Whether or not we can make this happen, if we can get all the pieces to come together, that's gonna be challenging. But creatively, for the very first time since we did the original, I feel we have a worthy concept, a worthy path to go."
Although 3D is a great tool to take the moviegoers to a whole other level of watching films in cinemas, until now, none of the 3D re-releases had gained successful box office results, including Disney's "The Lion King" ($94.2 million), James Cameron's "Titanic" ($57.9 million) and Fox's own "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" which grossed $43.5 million, showing signs that audiences' interest in reliving the classics in theater was not as high as the studios expected.
"Independence Day" starred Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A.Fox and Mary McDonell. The film gained $817 million at the worldwide box office and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
