Over recent years Roland Emmerich has been gearing up not one but two sequels to Independence Day, the 1996 movie which made $800m worldwide. Back in 2009 it was a case of money, with 20th Century Fox reluctant to give Will Smith and Emmerich a big piece of the pie (an upfront fee and then a % of the profits).

Now Vulture brings word that Emmerich and screenwriting partner Dean Devlin are putting the finishing touches to the two scripts, and “they’re expected to be delivered to Fox by early to mid-December”. The site has also heard “Fox is willing to make the movies without Smith” if a deal can’t be made.

Last year Emmerich hinted that Smith would have an important role the films, saying:

“It’s an alternate reality kind of movie,” he said. “We pick up the story, what would have happened after this kind of attack? Naturally, the alien technology has changed everything.”

“Did they rebuild the White House? Who will be president? “Or, who will be president?” Emmerich answered. “Who will be president? See?”

Yep, if Will signs he’ll most likely be playing President Stephen Hiller, instead of Captain. Vulture points out that Smith doesn’t have his next movie completely locked as One Thousand A.E., which has M. Night Shyamalan directing and his son Jaden Smith co-starring, is “going extra-slow on preproduction”. This increases the likelihood of Smith returning for the Independence Day sequels, but the key factor will probably be $$$.

Fox could make the movies without him and introduce new leads. The success of Roland’s 2012 and the Transformers franchise is evidence that you don’t need big stars if you’re just causing destruction, but having Smith involved would help getting audiences on-board.

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Earlier this year there was talk of 20th Century Fox moving forward with potentially two sequels to Independence Day, which made over $800 million in 1996.

Now MTV has posted some details which they forgot to post last year (why I don’t know). Director Roland Emmerich apparently wants to call them ID4-ever: Part I and ID4-ever: Part II with Will Smith’s character Steven Hiller as President of the United States of America.

First off, he describes the story — which would be set in the present day, over a decade after the alien invasion of the original film — as an “alternate reality” film.

“It’s an alternate reality kind of movie,” he said. “We pick up the story, what would have happened after this kind of attack? Naturally, the alien technology has changed everything.”

Did they rebuild the White House? Who will be president? “Or, who will be president?” Emmerich answered. “Who will be president? See?”

He’d just dropped us a non-too-subtle clue with that drawn out “will,” and the implication was clear: Will Smith, the fighter jet-flying hero of the 1996 film, at some point became commander-in-chief after the attacks. Whether he remains Mr. President during the course of the sequels or is eventually elected during the new films is an open question.

The problem back in March seemed to be money (as with most movie problems). Will Smith and director Roland Emmerich (who made $100 million from 2012) don’t come cheap, and even though 20th Century Fox made over $2 billion from Avatar they don’t particularly want to sign a deal whereby their star and director get a huge chunk of the profits.

Bill Pullman, who played the President in the original film, told MTV Emmerich “is one guy who may be able to pull it off. He doesn’t let it die”, which means if Smith and Roland Emmerich want it to happen, it will probably happen.

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While on the rounds promoting 2012 in October director Roland Emmerich said that he had a story for an Independence Day sequel and had spoken with 20th Century Fox about it. The only problem was money, and negotiating who gets paid what.

Will Smith was interested, but considering Independence Day made over $800 million worldwide (and his continued box office success since then) he was looking to get an upfront fee and then a % of the profits for the sequel. Roland Emmerich may have been looking for a similar deal too. He made $100 million from 2012 as he had a deal whereby he received 20% of the first-dollar gross profits. Fox could potentially have to pay out $50+ million just for the director and star (and then more after the film is released).

Well it seems all involved may have sorted out their deals, as IESB are reporting that we may be getting not one, but two, Independence Day sequels.

IESB has received a tip that Will Smith is now locked for not only Independence Day 2, but also a third installment. The plan would be to shoot both films back-to-back. Whether the studio opts to go the Matrix route and release the two films six months apart or do like the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and split them by a year remains to be seen. According to our sources, if all goes according to plan, the sequel(s) could shoot as early as 2011.

This would be Emmerich’s next directorial endeavor after his William Shakespeare thriller Anonymous. This would also come after Will Smith’s next (which will be either The City That Sailed or Men in Black 3). So this wouldn’t interfere with those projects.

With the box office gross of the first film in 1996 20th Century Fox could potentially have a billion dollar franchise on their hands. James Cameron recently said that even if he began working on Avatar 2 tomorrow it would still take 3 years to make, so Fox will be keen to get another ‘event’ movie in the pipeline in the meantime.

What do you think of this news? Would you be interested in seeing more Independence Day films, or should Fox let the film remain a standalone 1996 hit?

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Latino Review got the chance to interview director Roland Emmerich while he was on the rounds promoting his latest end of the world movie 2012, and they asking him about making a sequel to his 1996 end of the world movie Independence Day.

LatinoReview: I heard there was a script for a sequel. What’s the real reason there is no sequel?

Emmerich: Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we’ve found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean’s and my deal, and Will’s (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it’s just been in negations now since forever, and naturally FOX says “Why don’t you do it without Will Smith?” I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it’s in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who’s worth his gross. So we’ll see what happens. I would love to do it.

LatinoReview: But there is a story right?

Emmerich: Oh yeah! There’s a story. There’s a very really good great story, a very cool one.

So the sequel may movie forward if they can sort out who’s getting paid what. Everyone knows Will Smith brings in the money, and he will no doubt be asking for his share.

For Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull Harrison Ford turned down an upfront fee and instead made a deal to take a % of the box office gross. As the movie made $786 million worldwide he walked away with a cool $43.3 million. Independence Day made $817 worldwide. Can you see what Smith and Emmerich are thinking here? And can you see why Fox are trying to get Emmerich to do it without Smith? They don’t want to pay him $40+ million or whatever the deal is. I haven’t done the numbers but i’d say Smith was worth it. He’s got worldwide appeal, not many actors have that.

Would you be up for an Independence Day 2? Would you see the sequel if Will Smith wasn’t involved?

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