Filmmaker Roland Emmerich is heading back to the Independence Day well with the sequel ID Forever/Independence Day 2, and for years now it’s been rumored that he might do the same on his less-successful sci-fi movie franchise, Stargate. Emmerich’s 1994 feature stars Kurt Russell (Fast & Furious 7) and James Spader (Avengers: Age of Ultron) as members of a pioneer expedition that uses a centuries-old interstellar teleportation device – one uncovered during an archaeological excavation – in order to travel to a distant alien world.
Stargate grossed a respectable $196.5 million worldwide in theaters ($71 million in the U.S.), but ended up spawning multiple TV spinoffs – Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe – rather than a big screen followup. In an interview in 2012, screenwriter/producer Dean Devlin said that he and Emmerich had originally intended to make a Stargate movie trilogy, but also mentioned that the duo were still interested in revisiting the property in cinematic form (despite more than 15 years have passed between installments).
However, although Devlin meant a Stargate sequel at the time, Emmerich more recently informed Digital Spy – during the same interview in which the director mentioned his plans to meet with Will Smith about the latter appearing in Independence Day 2 – that he and Devlin are now looking to reboot the movie series instead (and realize their unfulfilled dream of a trilogy in the process):
“We went to MGM, who has the rights, and proposed to them to do a sequel, but as a reboot… and reboot it as a movie and then do three parts. Pretty soon we’ll have to look for a writer and start.”
Emmerich’s Independence Day sequel is scheduled to reach theaters in Summer 2015, but in the Digital Spy interview the filmmaker said he thinks a launch date in 2016 – the 20th anniversary of the original alien invasion blockbuster – is a more likely scenario. Which is to say, it could be a few years before Emmerich is able to focus and dedicate his time to rejuvenating the Stargate movie property – even longer, should Independence Day 2 prove $ucce$$ful enough to birth a series as planned (something Emmerich has spoken about in the past).
Then again, time isn’t so much of a demand, now that we know the next Stargate film is going to be a reboot; meaning, it’s not, per se, necessary to bring Russell or Spader back to the franchise. Not to say there isn’t any wiggle room for having either of the actors doing their part to hand the reigns over to a younger cast – like what is expected to happen in the Independence Day sequel – and many of the longtime Stargate fans would be happy to see either an older Col. Jonathan O’Neil (Russell) or Dr. Daniel Jackson (Spader) up on the big screen again.
by the fans for the fans
