Will Smith has decided that he will not return for the sequel to Independence Day, after years of trying to get the second installment of the movie made.
Deadline reveals exclusively that Independence Day director Roland Emmerich and co-writer and producer Dean Devlin are going to have to find a way to make the sequel without Smith.
Smith informed the Fox studio that he won’t be participating in a sequel that Emmerich and Devlin aspire to have in movie theaters for the Fourth of July in 2016. 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the 1996 original Independence Day movie that made $811 million worldwide and help launch Smith on a path to become a huge movie star.
But, without having Smith be in the sequel is not going to detour from having the movie be made. AV Club reports that Emmerich will proceed with the movie anyway. Emmerich just has to swap his script that had Smith’s character for the one without, where the aliens return and, not receiving a proper welcome, resolve to destroy the Earth for being disrespectful.
Smith doesn't want to a Independence Day sequel because he doesn't want to be known as the "sequel guy." He will also not do another Men In Black, since he already has done two sequels for it.
Photo By Taís Melillo from New York, USA (Celebrity sighting) via Wikimedia Commons
