Will Smith's "Pretty Much Decided" He's Not Going to Do 'Independence Day 2'

Despite many websites claiming Will Smith has 'officially' said NO to star in Independence Day 2, that is certainly not the case when reading the original report carefully.

Mike Fleming Jr. of Deadline - who has proven himself to be reliable when it comes to reporting exclusives - announced last night that Will Smith has informed 20th Century Fox that he won't be coming back for the sequel to the film that launched his movie career.  However, when reading Fleming's report in full, he clearly states that Smith has not had a final conversation with director Roland Emmerich as of yet and specifically writes:

I was told not to set this in stone, because Smith has been back and forth before on whether to make the movie, though I hear he is pretty much decided.

Now I'm not at all saying Fleming's report is BS (which I don't think it is), but I think it's important to note neither Fox, Smith, Emmerich, or any official statement has come out announcing the actor's decision not to return.  Until then, fans of the original should still keep some shred of optimism that Smith will have a final change of heart and star in the sequel.

Remember, it's not like Smith's movie career has been hot as of late.  After Earth completely tanked last summer and the audience's love for the actor has seemingly waned in recent years, mostly due to the fact of his over 3-year absence from film along with his nepotistic push to get his children into the movie business.

We'll keep you posted on this story as I'm sure an official announcement from the studio is around the corner on what direction their planned sequel will go.

Source:  Deadline