Up until now, Roland Emmerich has been full of talk about how the next Independence Day movie will be the starting point for a new franchise, but the latest from the director is that the studio is focusing only on Independence Day 2 .
With Independence Day 2 now having received an official release date from Fox, Emmerich was asked whether he would be directing the sequel, and whether it would still be the first of two planned films.
“So far, yes,” said Emmerich in answer to the directorial question, before going on to reveal, “I think they decided to do only one first.”
Obviously Fox isn’t quite confident enough in the property to fully sign up to Emmerich’s multi-picture vision, particularly since Will Smith is officially out of the frame to return.
“Will Smith cannot come back because he’s too expensive, but he’d also be too much of a marquee name,” says Emmerich. “It would be too much. We have like maybe half of the people that you know would know from the first film and the other half people who are new.”
Independence Day 2 will open in the US on 3 July 2015, with a UK date to be confirmed.
