What landmark will go down in "Independence Day 2?"
At last night’s Saturn Awards (winners here), ComingSoon had a chance to talk to Dean Devlin, the producer of the original “Independence Day.” The topic, of course, was a sequel to the 1996 blockbuster and whether it will finally happen.
“I hope so,” says Devlin. “I can’t say that it’s going to happen, but I can say for the first time that for the first time in eleven years, Roland Emmerich and I are working together. There are a lot of moving pieces that are coming together. I don’t know if it will come together, but we want it to happen. This is the first time since we made the original that Roland and I are excited about doing it and feeling like we have the right idea and we have our fingers crossed.”
Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of pressure to make a sequel to a movie that made so much, much money.
“Over the years everyone has always asked us about it. We never wanted to do it unless it felt germane to the story. In fact, ten years ago I was hired to write a sequel to ‘Independence Day’ and they paid me a lot of money. After I finished the script, I gave the money back and I said, “Don’t even read the script. The script is okay, but we can’t make an okay sequel to ‘Independence Day.’” This is what gave me a career. The fans deserve better than this. And I really decided then that I was never going to do a sequel. Until about a year and a half ago when Roland called me up and said, ‘Let’s try again.’ So we went out to Palm Springs and we cracked it. We said, ‘That’s a real sequel. That’s a sequel that makes sense to do. That’s a sequel that won’t disappoint the fans. That one feels like we always intended to do that in the first place.’ So I want it to happen. I don’t know if it will.”
So far the “sequels made years and years and years after others in the franchise” trend has been pretty unsatisfying. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Men in Black III” made money initially off their names but no one really liked them and it doesn’t feel like audiences are clamoring for more. “Ghostbusters III” can’t seem to get off the ground, which may be a blessing. Hopefully Devlin’s right and any sequel they concoct will be worth the time.
Meanwhile, the original “Independence Day” will get a 3D release on July 3, 2013.
