It’s no secret that Independence Day: Resurgence, the blockbuster sequel that was two decades in the making, persevered through its fair share of trials and tribulations during the early stages of development.
Remember ID Forever Part I and ID Forever Part II? Director Roland Emmerich evidently had big plans for his sci-fi franchise in the build up to Resurgence, but after hashing out a screenplay with Dean Devlin and co-writer Carter Blanchard circa 2014, 20th Century Fox commissioned a single sequel to the cult classic, leaving the future of the franchise up in the air.
Even after the release of Independence Day: Resurgence, questions continue to linger, and that’s even when you factor in the sequel’s cliffhanger ending. Alas, negative reviews and lowly box office returns look to have painted Fox’s larger-than-life series into a corner, and despite Emmerich initially expressing a desire to craft an “intergalactic journey” with the third film, the future of the franchise seems grim.
While speaking with LRM to promote his new film Bad Samaritan, Devlin was asked if we can still expect another outing in his sci-fi series, and though he didn’t outright shoot such a thing down, it’s certainly not sounding too promising.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Currently, I personally have no plans on doing another [Independence Day].”
Again, this doesn’t mean that we’ll never see a third installment, but we don’t imagine it’s a priority for anyone involved. After all, Resurgence currently sits at 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, with some pretty nasty reviews. True, its $390 million box office haul isn’t exactly horrible, but it’s hard to get too excited about that when you remember that its predecessor made $817 million back in 1996.
Not that anyone expected the sequel to reach the same heights as the original, but still, those kind of numbers won’t have the studio running to make another Independence Day movie. And frankly, that might be for the best. After all, some franchises are just better left alone and this might be one of them.