'Independence Day 2' Now Set to Open July 1st, 2016

Something tells me this is further proof that Will Smith will be back.

20th Century Fox has pushed its release of Independence Day 2 back one year - from July 3rd, 2015 to July 1st, 2016 - almost exactly 20 years to the day of the original's release, July 3rd, 1996.

For a sequel that will be set 20 years after the original, this definitely makes the most sense.

The duo that brought us the first film - director/writer Roland Emmerich, co-writer Dean Devlin - have been working on the project with White House Down writer/producer James Vanderbilt.  I still have yet to see WHD so please, someone tell me if this is a good or bad thing.

It's also been reported by Emmerich himself that there are two scripts written, one with Will Smith, one without.  I'm willing to bet the one that includes him would basically push the film back a year so this release date change certainly helps that case.

Now Emmerich and co. have over 2 1/2 years (along with everything they've already done since this past summer) to bring us a worthy and successful follow-up to one of the most popular action films of the last quarter century.

Let's just hope they live up to expectations, or else they're going to piss a lot of people off.

Source:  Variety