Writer Returned His Pay After Writing A Bad Independence Day Sequel
It took 20 years, but we finally got an Independence Day sequel when Independence Day: Resurgence came out in 2016. It was a ridiculous return to the world brought to life by Roland Emmerich and made famous because of increasingly ridiculous scenarios where humans stop aliens from taking over Earth.
But there was another sequel that was supposed to come sooner than that, except the script just wasn’t up to the high bar set by the original movie. That’s really saying something considering these movies aren’t exactly arthouse thought pieces.
Back in 2012, Dean Devlin talked about the possibility of an Independence Day sequel when he and Roland Emmerich got together for the first time in 11 years. An interview revealed that we almost got an Independence Day sequel years before that… but Devlin decided it wasn’t up to snuff.
Devlin, who co-wrote the original film with Emmerich, revealed the fate of the canceled script in an interview with Collider:
Many years ago, I was actually hired to write the sequel to Independence Day. And I wrote a sequel. And they paid me a boatload of money to go write this thing. And after I wrote it, I read it and I gave them back the money and I said, ‘Look, this is an okay movie I just wrote.
But it’s not worthy of the sequel to Independence Day.’ And I literally gave back the money. And afterwards I said, ‘You know what? I’m not even going to try anymore.’ And it was only about a year-and-a-half ago that Roland called me up and said, ‘We should try again.’
Leaving aside the easy “Not even good enough for Independence Day” jokes, it’s nice to see that Devlin had some standards. That’s not something you’d assume from a resume that includes the 1998 Godzilla remake.
If there was indeed going to be an Independence Day sequel, it shouldn’t have happened unless there’s a good story to tell.
We thought, at the time, that it was actually extremely unlikely to happen, but then again, Men in Black 3 made $605 million worldwide, so what did we know? Turns out, not all that much.
Eventually, Independence Day: Resurgence hit the big screen, with Roland Emmerich right back in the director’s chair. Oh, and Dean Devlin had a hand in the script as well. Others in on the screenplay included Emmerich, Nicolar Wright, and James Vanderbilt.
For this movie, things pick up 20 years after the original alien invasion, the remaining humans are using the recovered alien technology to secure Earth’s defense systems. But lo and behold, there are more baddies out there and a more powerful alien mothership enters Earth’s atmosphere. It’s revenge time baby!
Jeff Goldblum, Bill Paxton, and Judd Hirsch returned for this movie, though Will Smith was noticeably absent from the sequel. First, he demanded $50 million for a couple of sequels, and then when production for this movie ended up coming around, he was working on Suicide Squad. So no-go there. He was replaced, effectively by Liam Hemsworth.
Overall, Independence Day: Resurgence earned $389.7 million on a $165 million budget. Not terrible in real-world numbers, but not exactly a box office smash by Hollywood standards.
Maybe that original Dean Devlin Independence Day 2 script would have done the trick.
