Though in recent times Will Smith has been getting a lot of media attention for the wrong reasons, it is undeniable that the actor is one of the most renowned Hollywood actors. He has starred in blockbuster projects like the Men in Black franchise, Bad Boys franchise, and Hitch, to name a few.
Though Smith had been acting for years prior, it was 1996’s Independence Day that really gave him stardom. The movie is about a group of people that converges in the Nevada Desert and are desperate to defend the human race after a worldwide attack from aliens. They have to launch a counterattack on the technologically superior race by July 4, Independence Day in the United States.
Were There Supposed to be Two Sequels to the 1996 Movie Independence Day?
Will Smith’s Independence Day did incredibly well at the box office. It grossed more than $800 million worldwide in the summer of 1996. Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the writers of the first movie, decided that they would write the sequel script with Will Smith present. They wrote the script and the project was greenlit by their studio, 20th Century Fox.
“Before we wrote one word, we met with Will Smith and said, ‘This is the idea we have.’ He loved it and was super excited to do it. We wrote not just one, but two sequels with him in mind and we handed them into the studio. They went crazy and greenlit immediately; they told us, ‘This is the best first draft we’ve ever read of any script.'” Said Devlin
This was however halted after Will Smith suddenly backed out. Devlin believes the cause of this to be his 2013 sci-fi movie After Earth not doing very well. Eventually, the sequels turned into Independence Day: Resurgence, which left doors open for a third movie, but it is unlikely due to the underwhelming performance of the sequel.
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What was Supposed to Happen in the Two Sequels?
Now the question that rises is what was the story of the original sequels? This version of Independence Day 2 would have been called ID Forever Part 1, with the third film known as ID Forever Part II. We would continue to follow Smith’s character, Steven Hiller, who has gotten rich and famous and is very out of shape.
“It was a bit like Rocky III,” Devlin revealed. “He’d gotten rich and he’d gotten famous, and he had to get the eye of the tiger back you know? He’s a little too comfortable and it’s his chance to bring the old Will Smith out of retirement.”
The movie supposedly had an amazing script, the studio going as far as to call it the best first draft they had read of any script. They had an arc in mind for the character and left enough room in the script for Smith to improvise, which is something he is very good at.
Unfortunately, for the studio, writers, as well as the fans, it did not come to fruition.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment
