Given the fact that almost two decades have lapsed since the release of Independence Day, Roland Emmerich’s long-gestating follow-up now joins an infamous list of productions that took years upon years to follow in the shadow of their predecessor — think Dumb and Dumber To, Tron: Legacy et cetera. More often than not, these long-in-development titles leverage their appeal on the existing popularity, which no doubt wanes as the window stretches.
But now that ID Forever has set its sights on The Hunger Games‘ Liam Hemsworth to fill the void left by Will Smith, the continuation is on course to arrive sooner rather than later, following a script rewrite by Spy Hunter‘s Carter Blanchard. In fact, the screenwriter has begun to attract the attention of an array of different studios in the industry, as Deadline has learned that DreamWorks has picked up one of his original ghost story pitches.
It’s worth nothing that this concept is still very much in the nascent stages of development, so there is nary a sign of plot or potential casting details. Still, from what we understand, Blanchard’s premise is rooted in Amblin-style storytelling, and considering that his time-travel tale Glimmer was recently acquired by DreamWorks following a heated bidding war, we should stand up and take notice of this latest news tidbit.
As DreamWorks engineers Blanchard’s spooky tale from script to screen, we can look forward to seeing the writer’s talents in the summer of next year when Independence Day 2 arrives in theaters on June 24, 2016.