Roland Emmerich, the director behind disaster epics The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and Godzilla has been in the news lately for his controversial views on franchise films. However, he too tried to create a franchise (albeit unsuccessfully) around a beloved film – 1996’s Independence Day. Emmerich co-wrote and directed the first and only sequel of his career, 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence. But the film underperformed at the box office and was universally panned by both critics and audiences. Will Smith’s absence was also deemed as one of the factors for Independence Day 2’s failure. But that wasn’t originally the case.
Director Roland Emmerich says Will Smith’s abrupt exit from 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence caused major rewrites on the film.Read MoreMovieWeb – Feed