‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Trailer Hits The Web [Video]

Independence Day 2 now not only has an official name but a trailer, and football fans just got to see it!

Luckily, the powers that be wasted no time spreading the love to those of you on the web. The highly anticipated second outing of the 1990s smash hit starring Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum seems to have reassembled most of the original cast (minus Smith).

In the time since the world made July 4th its Independence Day by fighting back against the aliens, the alien technologies have been used to strengthen military might, though as the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence is about to reveal, “it won’t be enough.”

As with the first film’s stellar marketing campaign, you get to see some of the ships, but the aliens themselves are nowhere to be found save for a peek at some skeletons at the very beginning.

Who knows why it took such an advanced culture so long to come back and try for their revenge? That is an answer that will have to wait until this thing hits theaters on June 24, 2016.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and yes, even Judd Hirsch!

As for younger audiences, they will be able to spot Liam Hemsworth, who gets the lead this go-around, as well as Maika Monroe, Joey King, and Angelababy.

While some of you may miss Will Smith from the proceedings, fret not. His son (movie son, not real-life) plays a pivotal role. Jessie Usher will play Dylan Hiller, taking over for Ross Bagley, who played the role in the 1996 original.

Screen Crush reports that Smith decided he did not want to do Independence Day: Resurgence because he was “tired of sequels” and had already done a father-son sci-fi film (with his real-life son) in the box office flop After Earth.

Vivica Fox, who played Hiller’s girlfriend in the original, will reprise her role, so it would be unusual if the film failed to mention what happened to Capt. Hiller.

It’s likely, given the fact he was a heroic character, that something took Hiller off the earth, like a car accident or an airplane crash. (He was a pretty reckless pilot.)

Nevertheless, there will almost certainly be a number of heroes to take his spot. Without further ado, here’s the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence.

And lest you be concerned that the aliens will wipe out the human race at the end of this second outing, here’s some good news.

There are already plans for Independence Day 3. The real question remaining is, will there be enough box office there to warrant it?

Maybe not, but given the take of the first film, you can’t blame producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich for trying.

The 1996 original boasted a then-quite-large $75 million budget and ended up grossing $306 million domestically and $511 million foreign for a worldwide take of around $817 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

While critical reception was lukewarm — to date, it holds a 60 percent “fresh” rating out of 57 reviews on the critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes — audiences liked it a bit more at the time.

Of course, audience tastes have changed somewhat, though a big budget eye-candy film can still do well with the right execution.

(See The Avengers and all related Marvel flicks, probably Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the Christopher Nolan Batman films.)

But what do you think, readers?

After watching the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence above, do you think this series has what it takes to become a longstanding franchise?

And will you be camped out waiting for tickets when they finally go on sale? Sound off in the comments section.

[All Images via Independence Day: Resurgence trailer, linked above]