20th Century Fox Sets June 2016 Release for INDEPENDENCE DAY Sequel

Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has given the go-ahead for INDEPENDENCE DAY 2, with a release set for June 24, 2016.

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The studio is in the process of securing director Roland Emmerich and will then start its hunt for the cast. As BWW previously reported, Will Smith is likely not returning for the sequel.

Emmerich will direct from a script by Nicolas Wright and James A. Woods, with Carter Blanchard's rewrite of Emmerich and Dean Devlin and James Vanderbilt's first draft.

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 was originally aiming to be the first of a two-part story, with working titles "ID Forever, Part I" and "Part II," but 20th Century Fox has only greenlit Part I.

The first film hit theaters in 1996 and followed Captain Steve Hiller (Will Smith), President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and programmer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) in their quest to save the human race from a deadly alien invasion.

It drew a gross of $817,400,891 worldwide -- the second-highest gross of all time when the film debuted. INDEPENDENCE DAY also won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.