The Hero Complex Film Festival always manages to put together a great line-up with fantastic speakers, and 2013 is going to be no different.  The L.A. Times has sent out a press release announcing that this year’s Hero Complex Film Festival will celebrate horror and sci-fi by screening films from and talking to John Carpenter, Frank Darabont, Chris Carter, Roland Emmerich, and Guillermo del Toro.  There will be showings of Halloween, They Live, The Mist, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, and Independence Day.  Also, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the X-Files, the film festival will show three of the series’ best episodes uncut: “Pilot”, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”, and “Jose Chung’s from Outer Space”.

Hit the jump for the full press release.  The 2013 Hero Complex Film Festival runs from May 10 – 12th.

Director Roland Emmerich is gearing up to promote his latest film, the White House actioner White House Down, but it sounds like he plans on heading back to our nation’s most famous residence again sooner rather than later.  A sequel to Emmerich’s 1996 blockbuster Independence Day has been rumored for years, but the project finally gained some traction recently when Emmerich confirmed that he and producer Dean Devlin were poised to sit down and write two back-to-back follow-ups.  Emmerich has now offered a new update on ID Forever Part 1 and ID Forever Part 2 (let’s hope they change those titles…), providing some fairly intricate story details and revealing that Part 1 will take place 20 years after the events of the first film.  Hit the jump to read on.

Though movement is reportedly taking place on two sequels to Roland Emmerich’s 1996 disaster sci-fi film Independence Day, it appears that 20th Century Fox has had a change of heart regarding a 3D re-release of the original.  The post-converted iteration of the Will Smith-starrer had been slated for release on July 3, 2013, but Exhibitor Relations broke the news on Twitter that Fox has now decided not to release the pic.  I’m not sure how far along the conversion had gone, but no reason for the change of heart is given.  This now leaves the 2013 Fourth of July weekend open to Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger.

Although the closest thing you’ll see to Independence Day in the theaters is the original’s re-release next year, work is continuing on the two sequels.  Director Roland Emmerich is currently tied up with White House Down, but he and producer Dean Devlin manage to work on the sequels when they can.  The team refers to the films by their in-progress titles ID Forever Part One and ID Forever Part Two.  They also recently commented on the use of 3D in the sequels and the tone they’re shooting for.  Hit the jump to see what they had to say.

Over the past few years, we’ve written again and again about a possible Independence Day sequel.  While I never thought a sequel would happen due to the amount of time that’s passed, with Fox doing a 3D re-release next summer of the original film, I’m beginning to think it could happen.  After all, the re-release is a great way to get people excited for a sequel.

So when I got to speak with producer Dean Devlin on the red carpet at tonight’s Saturn Awards, I asked him the status of the ID42 (Independence Day 2).  He said:

“I can tell you that Roland Emmerich and I are working together for the first time in eleven years and we are working really hard to try and make this happen.”

More after the jump.

Independence Day 2 is a project that doesn’t exist, but it’s almost existed for quite a few years now.  Director Roland Emmerich and star Will Smith have talked about the various stages of development on the sci-fi follow-up over the years, but as of yet nothing tangible has come to fruition.  Last we heard, Fox was planning back-to-back sequels with or without Smith’s involvement, and now producer Dean Devlin has announced that he and Emmerich are actively working on Independence Day 2.  Moreover, they’re also hoping to continue and ultimately finish the story they began with the 1994 sci-fi film Stargate with two new sequels.  Hit the jump for more.

Will Smith will be reclaiming his Fourth of July box office throne next year, but it’ll be with a movie that’s 16 years old.  In addition to dates for the X-Men: First Class sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Robopocalypse, Fox announced today that director Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi invasion pic Independence Day will return to theaters in 3D on July 3rd, 2013.  It’ll be interesting to see how well the film actually does given that the box office climate nowadays is vastly different from that of 1996.  How confused will kids be to see that the humans’ master line of defense involves a now primitive-looking computer virus?

In a world where “dark” and “gritty” blockbusters dominate the marketplace, the slightly goofy and unabashedly fun Independence Day should stand out a bit.  That said, The Avengers is breaking records left and right and that film is packed to the brim with hope, humor, and unbridled joy.  Hit the jump for more, including the film’s original trailer.

Director Roland Emmerich’s relatively small drama Anonymous opens in theaters this weekend, but it appears that the 2012 director doesn’t plan to make small-scale films a habit as he may be returning to Independence Day sooner rather than later. Last March, we reported that back-to-back sequels to the 1996 alien invasion smash hit were in development, with both Emmerich and star Will Smith expected to return. However, disputes over budgets and salaries lead to everyone deciding to slow down a bit and take some time to actually write the scripts first. Now the sequels are written, and Fox is ready to move on Indepenence Day 2 and 3. The only question is, will Smith be returning? Hit the jump for all the details.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Bill Pullman while in Austin. Pullman has a decorated career while working in various genre films and standard fare, which includes Independence Day, Spaceballs, Casper, While You Were Sleeping, Newsies, and Lost Highway. Among the topics of discussion was a the famous speech in Independence Day, why his name was given as a thanks in The Cove, upcoming projects, what it meant to bring a few genre films to Austin for the Quote-A-Long series, and more. So hit the jump for the full video interview (which is time indexed):

With Fantastic Fest 2010 in Austin, Texas mere weeks away, the third wave of films playing the festival has been announced. Among the highlights are Darren Bousman’s thriller Mother’s Day starring Rebecca De Mornay, Guy Moshe’s Bunraku with Woody Harrelson and Josh Hartnett and Red, starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren and many more. Add these to the previous announcements of the World Premiere of Sharktopus, special screenings of Let Me In, Buried, Stone, I Spit on Your Grave and more, Fantastic Fest certainly sounds like it’ll live up to its name.

Hit the jump for more details on the third wave including two repertory screenings featuring Bill Pullman.

IESB is reporting that 20^th Century Fox has set the wheels in motion to not only make Independence Day 2 but also an Independence Day 3, both starring Will Smith at Captain Steven Hiller.

According to their tipster, the studio has locked up the superstar to shoot both films back to back after whichever film he chooses to do next, be it Men in Black 3 or The City That Sailed. The writer and director of the original Independence Day, Roland Emmerich, will return too. Last year, he told Latino Review that the main hold up was Will Smith’s huge salary. Well, now thanks to James Cameron and his little film called Avatar, it seems the studio has decided to pay Will his asking price of over $20 million.

Hit the jump for more details.

If you have seen a single advertisement for 2012, you know what this movie is.  I’m not saying you know the plot (as if it mattered) or anything like that.  You know that the world ends in a spectacular fashion and all you have to do then is extend that out to 2 ½ hours and you have a movie that is exhilarating to the point of exhaustion.  If you grouped 2012 with director Roland Emmerich’s previous disaster films, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, then 2012 would be the crowning achievement of an unofficial “I Hate Earth” trilogy.

I don’t think anyone is clamoring for an “Independence Day 2″ especially since it would be strange if the aliens, now using iMacs running OS X and thus totally immune to viruses*, decided to come back and attack again on the same damn day.  Maybe they could attack on a different holiday.  Labor Day?  President’s Day?  Martin Luther King Day?  Whenever they plan to attack, director Roland Emmerich says they’ll have to delay their plans until Will Smith decides to do the project.  Hit the jump to campaign for “Flag Day”.