"The highest grossing alien-invasion movie of all time is Independence Day (1996), which had grossed $817m (£530m) worldwide by 12 January 1997," the Guinness World Records says.

"Independence Day (also promoted as ID4) is a 1996 American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Emmerich and the film's producer Dean Devlin. The film stars an ensemble cast of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, and Vivica A. Fox.

"The film follows disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4—Independence Day in the United States."  (Wikipedia)

"Conceived by Emmerich while promoting Stargate (1994), the film aimed to depict a large-scale alien invasion, departing from typical portrayals of extraterrestrial visits. Filming began in July 1995 and was completed in October that same year.

"Upon its release on July 3, 1996, Independence Day was considered a pivotal moment for the Hollywood blockbuster, leading the resurgence of disaster and science fiction films in the late 1990s. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the cast performances, musical score, and visual effects, but criticism for its character development.

"It emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing over $817.4 million worldwide on a production budget of $75 million. It became the highest-grossing film of the year and the second-highest-grossing film ever at the time, behind Jurassic Park (1993)."   (Wikipedia)

"It’s official: There is intelligent life in Hollywood. Well, at least at Twentieth Century Fox, which hyped Independence Day to the moon, then watched it conquer the nation with $104.3 million in its first week — vaporizing practically every box office record in the book," the Entertainment Weekly reports.

"All of Hollywood felt the fallout. At Fox, jubilant execs started itching for a sequel. ”If we had our choice, we’d aim for summer ’98,” says Fox chief Bill Mechanic. ”But that may be unrealistic.” An understatement, considering the follow-up has yet to be plotted, and it hinges on the cooperation of ID producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich. ”The only way we’d do it would be if a phenomenal idea came up,” says Devlin. ”It just wouldn’t be fair to make it just because the first one did well.”

" Biggest Openings of All Time
#1 Independence Day $104.3 Million* #2. Mission: Impossible $74.9 #3. Jurassic Park $74.1 #4. Batman Forever $72.2 #5. Batman Returns $66.2 #6. Batman $63.8 #7. Terminator 2 $57.4 #8. Twister $53.9."

"Independence Day’ Holds the Record for Most Miniatures and Models in a Film

“Holds the record for most miniature model work to appear in one film. Model shop supervisor Michael Joyce estimated that more miniatures were used for this film than in any other two films combined. Due to the advances in digital technology since this film's release, most experts believe this record may stand forever,” the IDMB says.

“The production's model-making department built more than twice as many miniatures for the production than had ever been built for any film before, by creating miniatures for buildings, city streets, aircraft, landmarks, and monuments. The crew also built miniatures for several of the spaceships featured in the film, including a thirty foot destroyer model, and a version of the mother ship spanning twelve feet.”

"Independence Day didn’t become the quintessential movie to watch over the July 4 holiday in the US purely because of its title (though that certainly didn’t hurt). It was, on many levels, a groundbreaking film of its own — in the most American of ways.

"In the movie, which takes place over the Fourth of July, unnerving, unexplainable phenomena begin to appear all over the globe. The truth becomes impossible to ignore: Earth is under attack. And it’s up to a motley band of Americans, including a satellite technician (Jeff Goldblum), a Marine pilot (Will Smith), a former combat pilot (Randy Quaid), and the American president (Bill Pullman) to save the world," the Vox says.

"With more than $817.4 million in ticket sales worldwide, Independence Day became the highest-grossing film of the year, beating out movies like Twister and Mission: Impossible to nab the spot. It was briefly the second highest-grossing film of all time until The Lost World: Jurassic Park came out in 1997, and came very close to surpassing Jurassic Park’s opening week record."

"On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species," the IDMB says.

"After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles and Washington, as well as Paris, London, Houston and Moscow.

"The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom."

"Independence Day (also known as ID and ID4) is a franchise of American science fiction action films that started with "Independence Day in 1996, which was eventually followed by the sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016. The franchise revolves around extraterrestrials invading Earth and seeking to eradicate mankind while the remaining human resistance uses everything at their disposal to defeat the invaders and take back the planet," the Independence Day Wiki | Fandom says.

"Now considered to be a significant turning point in the history of the Hollywood blockbuster, the original film was released worldwide on July 3, 1996, but began showing on July 2 (the same day the film's story begins) on limited release as a result of a high level of anticipation among moviegoers.

"The film grossed over $817.4 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1996 and, briefly, the second-highest-grossing film worldwide of all time behind 1993's Jurassic Park. Currently, it ranks 69th on the list of highest-grossing films, and was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and sci-fi resurgence of the mid-late 1990s. The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing."

"Some people like “Independence Day” for its campy take on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”; or for its technical achievements, which won an Oscar and set director Roland Emmerich on the path for becoming the disaster director du jour; or for establishing Will Smith as the “King of the Fourth of July,” the Variety says.



"Other people — like me — watch the movie religiously every time the Fourth of July rolls around. Let’s face it, when Smith’s Capt. Steven Hiller promises his step-son Dylan (Ross Bagley) fireworks, and you get them in the form of alien vessels crashing to the ground after a high-flying intergalactic space battle, why bother leaving the house to deal with traffic for your local fireworks show?"

"ID4: Independence Day: (David Arnold) If you doubt that anticipation alone can sell a non-franchise film as a blockbuster long before its release date, then study what 20th Century Fox accomplished with Independence Day. The film itself was mediocre, just as all of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's early productions turned out to be, but it became a classic disaster staple due to its revolutionary special effects, a likable performance by Will Smith, and a tendency to bloat every aspect of its production to overblown levels," the Filmtracks.com says.

"Starting with the Super Bowl and the film Broken Arrow early in 1996, Fox pushed trailers showing the fiery destruction of the White House (a compelling image given that it was a presidential election year and the public still enjoyed a desensitized pre-9/11 mindset) and other landmarks. Each successive trailer teased out more incredible special effects shots of immense destruction, often to glorious accompaniment by the popular theme from Hans Zimmer's Crimson Tide.

"A monumentally effective marketing campaign by Fox included black helicopters flying over Los Angeles with banners announcing the end of the world on the premier date. With a story full of as many preposterous loopholes as that by Devlin and Emmerich, seeing the spectacular annihilation of the cities of the United States, primarily, was the main attraction of Independence Day."

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