In the 1990s, the destruction of beloved world landmarks was a crowd-pleasing novelty. Roland Emmerich’s epic summer blockbuster Independence Day took massive advantage of our shared cultural naiveté in 1996, reimagining H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds as an ensemble Irwin Allen drama, and reaping enormous financial rewards. Independence Day remains one of the most popular films of its kind, and so – riding on the coattails of nostalgia sequels like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – a sequel is finally on the way in 2016.
Today, we celebrate the arrival of the first trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence, which promises a more dour experience than the original film. It’s been decades since the last Independence Day, and humanity has busied itself with retrofitting advanced alien technology to better prepare for a follow-up attack from the aliens who blew us all to hell in the first place. (Yes, it’s basically the same set-up as both Ender’s Game and Robotech. Well spotted.)
But with a bearded Bill Pullman and a gaunt (as ever) Jeff Goldblum spouting doom and gloom, and all the action played to portentous speeches and melodramatic music, it seems like Roland Emmerich’s long-awaited sequel will attempt – if only in the marketing – to treat the aftermath of the first Independence Day like a serious war movie that taps into our collective anxieties, as well as our collective need to watch stuff explode.
That said, we’d be surprised if dumb jokes and stereotypes don’t end up abounding in the finished product. It’s still a Roland Emmerich joint, after all.
Watch the first trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence, check out the new website WarOf1996.com, and keep an eye out for the theatrical release on June 24, 2016.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
