Hawki said:
Sigh...was anyone actually asking for this? Did anyone look at the end of ID1 and say "you know what? This needs a sequel!"
I'm sure that at the time that there were some. I'm sure someone thought they should make a sequel to Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow. People are so stupid.
The question is who the hell is asking for this
now? There are latter-day sequels and then there's making the first sequel twenty years later. This doesn't happen very often. Partially because movies become franchises as they milk every penny they can out of an IP. If the movie didn't get a sequel shortly after the initial film, it's unlikely to now. Unless the film in question has some kind of cult following, like Tron.
I do not believe Independence Day has that kind of cult following. It was a big wow popcorn movie when it came out, and while I will allow there are still some people out there who like the movie and may even pop their VHS copy into their VCRs every once in a while to watch it, but otherwise it has been blissfully forgotten by the public at large. I suspect that anyone going to high school now is unlikely to have heard of it. It had made a big splash and then went away because it was ultimately forgettable, which is not the sign of a rock solid IP.
In fact, as I was writing this I had almost called the movie Stargate because I had forgotten which forgettable, serviceable but still somewhat disappointing 90's sci-fi film we were talking about. I am sure that Stargate was from the same director/producer team is just a coincidence.
Truth be told, I really don't go to the theater much these days. So me skipping this shit carries about as much weight as a gay guy assuring you he's not making the moves on your lady. Of course he isn't. He's not into that. I'm not going to bother with the next Star Wars or Star Trek movies, either, and I would have skipped the last couple installments of those if it were for family members dragging me to see it or popping in the DVD despite my protests. I just find the whole business depressing.
What business? Why the movie business, of course. BOOSH.
See, this has happened before, as a former content provider has already laid out in convenient video form.
So, what was happening at the time described in that video is Hollywood was desperate. Their reliable money makers were not making any money and they let crap like Myra Breckenridge get made in the hopes that maybe this one will make money.
We are in that state now as movie theaters compete with video streaming, people having home theater set-ups that put many theater to shame, DVD and Blu-ray-- which is itself under threat from the aforementioned streaming, etc. as well as competition with other new media, such as, well, video games. Movie companies do not know how to make a reliable profit anymore and what we're witnessing now is the kind of failing about of a beheaded chicken. That's why they keep dredging up IP that many had forgotten. Who the hell was sill clamoring for an Independence Day sequel? Or a Jem and the Holograms movie? Or another fucking Vacation movie?
It may seem like a kind of golden age to some as IPs that would never have gotten a movie are getting a movie now. But it's a double edged sword as the movies tend to not be very good or at least changed to the point that it's hard to understand why they purchased the movie rights to the IP in the first place.
Thing is, I don't know how this is going to shake out. It could mean the end of movie theaters altogether with the business restructured for streaming. Regal theater has be showing all kinds of not movies, like concert footage, to supplement their business as the films just aren't doing it anymore.
So, basically, I cannot and will not get excited about an Independence Day sequel and do not think anyone else should, either. No one who loves movies at any rate. The existence of this film is the symptom of a terminal disease that is affecting the industry at this point with little hope for recovery. At least Jeff Goldblum got a paycheck, I suppose.
