Independence Day: Resurgence ($338,823,089)

THR reports that Jessie Usher will lead the pic as the son of Will Smith’s character from the 1996 film, which of course revolved around an alien invasion and the effort to thwart it, all the while the extra terrestrials’ massive ships hovered atop the major cities of the globe and Jeff Goldblum rode his bicycle round and round an office. Though Usher will play Smith’s son, Smith previously passed on returning for the follow-up, so it doesn’t appear that he’ll be popping up in this sequel. Usher’s filmography includes last year’s football drama When the Game Stands Tall and the Cartoon Network series Level Up, and he currently stars on the Lebron James-produced, basketball-centric Starz original series Survivor’s Remorse.

Usher’s casting comes after over a year of casting rumors for the pic, which director Roland Emmerich has been developing for a while now. Michael B. Jordan was initially reported as being wanted for a major role in the pic while Liam Hemsworth was confirmed earlier today as the son-in-law of Bill Pullman‘s President, with Pullman expected to reprise his role. With a June 24, 2016 release date looming things are finally picking up, and casting Usher and Hemsworth is the first piece of the puzzle. I imagine more casting announcements will come in the next few weeks.

Story details are unknown at the moment, but Emmerich spoke pretty candidly about his plans a few years ago, when he was hoping to shoot two Independence Day sequels back-to-back. At that time, the filmmaker said the story of Independence Day 2 would find the aliens returning for retaliation, and due to wormhole travel it would only be a few weeks after the first film’s events in Alien Time, but 20-25 years would have passed in Human Time. Whether that story nugget remains in the finished film is unclear, but we’ll no doubt be in for some more massive destruction at the hands of Emmerich.

Roland Emmerich has booked another Independence Day actor to return for Fox’s sequel, adding Vivica A. Fox to the cast. She’ll rejoin Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman from the mega-tentpole 1996 original that made $811 million worldwide. Liam Hemsworth and Charlotte Gainsbourg have also joined up for the pic, which is eyeing a May production start and has a June 24, 2016, release date. Fox played Will Smith’s girlfriend Jasmine Dubrow in the original, but she won’t be snuggling up to Smith for the sequel; he says he is not returning.

There’s been talk of Bill Pullman’s return as President Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day 2 for a while, but now it’s finally official – although technically he can’t be president anymore, right? Regardless, not only did Roland Emmerich announce Pullman’s return, but he also revealed that Judd Hirsch will be back as well. Hirsch played David’s (Jeff Goldblum) father Julius Levinson in the original.

So now the list of returning cast members includes Pullman, Hirsch, Goldblum, Brent Spiner as Dr. Brackish Okun, the kooky scientist at Area 51, and Vivica A. Fox as Captain Steven Hiller’s (Will Smith) wife, Jasmine Dubrow. As for the newcomers, we’ve got Liam Hemsworth as President Whitmore’s son-in-law, Jessie Usher as Steven Hiller’s son (presumably an older Dylan Dubrow), Travis Tope as a character named Charlie, and Charlotte Gainsbourg and Joey King in unknown roles.

UltimateMarvel wrote: There is no point in fighting those things because even if you win, they're still coming down on you. Surrender is the best course of action.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Trailer looks amazing and epic! A lot of it reminded me of the first one and hearing that speech again gave me chills.

Looking at the size of those ships, they're freaking HUGE! There is no point in fighting those things because even if you win, they're still coming down on you. Surrender is the best course of action. LOL! Looking forward to see how they defeat these aliens this time around.

WyldeMan wrote:God damned sympathizers....

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!

ForeverBlu wrote:Humans were asleep at the wheel, the first time the Aliens came through blowing up shit.  This time, don't think that will be the case.

ForeverBlu wrote:Me thinks Will won't be missed in this one.

LOL!

ForeverBlu wrote:Will wanted 50 mil and Jaden to play the stepson.


If this is an epic blockbuster and Suicide Squad tanks, LOL!

ForeverBlu wrote:This looks really good.