If you were anxiously waiting for Independence Day 2 starring The Fresh Prince minus Jazzy Jeff, you might want to go grab a pillow to cry into. It’s not happening anymore. From Deadline:
I’m told reliably that Smith informed the studio that he won’t be joining in on a sequel that the filmmakers hope to have in theaters for July 4 weekend, 2016. That marks the 20th anniversary of the 1996 original that grossed $811 million worldwide and launched Smith on a trajectory to become the world’s most bankable movie star.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the ID4 sequel can’t happen. In fact, Fox is very keen to see it through and what studio wouldn’t want another installment of such a big movie? When Emmerich and Devlin wrote the first draft before handing it over to The Amazing Spider-Man scribe James Vanderbilt, they hatched two distinctly different versions of the movie. Vanderbilt has been working on two separate scripts. One has Smith as the centerpiece, and the other takes the battle to the aliens without his cocky hero fighter pilot Captain Steven Hiller.
I like that The AV Club points out that Smith is worried about becoming “a sequel guy.” Like they graciously point out, most of his films have been sequels, from Men In Black to After Earth 2 coming next year. There is going to be an After Earth 2, right? My mother is going to be really disappointed if there isn’t one.
Either way, I think it is going to be fine if Smith doesn’t return to the series. He already dropped a big mic at the end of the first one ad there’s no need to try and re-do it. Just walk away, Will!
(Lead image via 20th Century Fox / JeffUnderScore/ Tumblr)