Welcome to Earth!

I see at AICN that a sequel or two to Independence Day may be in the works. Such a project has long been rumored; this has been on-again, off-again ever since the original movie came out in 1996 and did lots of business. I actually loved ID4 and I still think it's just amazingly fun to watch (note to self: show ID4 to the kid), even though its plot doesn't make one bit of sense, even before Jeff Goldblum defeats the aliens with his Macintosh Powerbook.

Of course, that makes you wonder how the sequel would go:

ALIENS: We're back, Earthlings! Bwaaa-haa-hahahaha!

JEFF GOLDBLUM: Oh, you guys again. Take this!

Jeff pulls out his iPhone and dances his fingers across its touchscreen for all of five seconds. Almost immediately the alien ships start dropping out of the sky like flies.

ALIENS: SSSHHHIIITTT....

But I digress. While reading the news item quoted on AICN, something stood out for me:

IESB has received a tip that Will Smith is now locked for not only Independence Day 2, but also a third installment. The plan would be to shoot both films back-to-back. Whether the studio opts to go the Matrix route and release the two films six months apart or do like the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and split them by a year remains to be seen. According to our sources, if all goes according to plan, the sequel(s) could shoot as early as 2011.

This would be Emmerich's next directorial endeavor after his William Shakespeare thriller Anonymous. This would also come after Will Smith's next (which will be either The City That Sailed or Men in Black 3). So this wouldn't interfere with those projects.

Did you catch that?

This would be Emmerich's next directorial endeavor after his William Shakespeare thriller Anonymous. This would also come after Will Smith's next (which will be either The City That Sailed or Men in Black 3). So this wouldn't interfere with those projects.

Wait...what? A William Shakespeare thriller? As in, the Bard as some kind of action hero?

Huh-whuh?!