It appears the producer of Independence Day and its 2016 sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, has liberated himself from the idea of doing a third ID4 film. Along with his frequent collaborator, director Roland Emmerich, producer Dean Devlin made huge impressions on the sci-fi genre in the mid 1990s, first with acclaimed 1994 hit Stargate, which was followed up by Independence Day two years later. The film was not only a worldwide smash with a global box office cume of more than $817 million ($306 million domestically, $511 million overseas), it catapulted star Will Smith’s film career into the stratosphere as he wrapped his run in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on TV.
As successful as Independence Day was – it even earned an Oscar for Best Visual Effects – plans for a sequel never got off the ground as Emmerich and Devlin went on to release such fare as Godzilla in 1998, The Patriot in 2000 and Eight Legged Freaks in 2002, before they finally found a way to bring another alien invasion thriller based on their 1996 blockbuster back with Independence Day: Resurgence. Despite original stars including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Brent Spiner reprising their roles, Smith opted not to return (and did Suicide Squad instead) and his character was killed off off-screen.
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According to LRM, Devlin was asked about the potential for another Independence Day film while he was at WonderCon in Anaheim, California, over the weekend promoting his new horror thriller Bad Samaritan. And while Devlin didn’t specifically state that there wouldn’t be a third film, he seems to have separated himself from the franchise, saying, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Currently, I personally have no plans on doing another one.”
Devlin most certainly has to feel deflated by Independence Day: Resurgence’s reception, which was far less kind than the way the original was received. Sure, it wasn’t exact DOA at the box office – it made more than $389 million worldwide (with only $103 million of that coming stateside) – yet that was still only half of what the original made before inflation 20 years before. On top of that, critics savaged the film, as it earned a “rotten” rating of 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences agreed, as only 30 percent of moviegoers liked it. The final stake came, though, when the film was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Director by the Razzies.
While Devlin apparently wants to leave the ID4 franchise behind, the final death knell won’t come until Emmerich calls it quits, too. Emmerich definitely appeared up for a third Independence Day film just prior to Independence Day: Resurgence’s release, even going so far as to say the third film’s setting would be intergalactic. Clearly the duo had hopes for another hit with the door wide open for another sequel at the end of Independence Day: Resurgence, but now with half of the creative duo going on record saying he’s not interested, it will be interesting to see how the project proceeds, if at all.
NEXT: Independence Day: Resurgence Director Says He Doesn’t Like Sequels
