Independence Day (1996)

The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy. Fighting superior technology, Man's best weapon is the will to survive.

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers:

Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich

Stars:

Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum

Won 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Will Smith	...	Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman	...	President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum	...	David Levinson
Mary McDonnell	...	First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch	...	Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia	...	General William Grey
Randy Quaid	...	Russell Casse
Margaret Colin	...	Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox	...	Jasmine Dubrow
James Rebhorn	...	Albert Nimziki
Harvey Fierstein	...	Marty Gilbert
Adam Baldwin	...	Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner	...	Dr. Brakish Okun
James Duval	...	Miguel
Lisa Jakub	...	Alicia

Storyline

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. 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. July 4th is their ...

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Plot Keywords:

area 51 | alien | spaceship | spacecraft | military | 

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Taglines:

The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1996 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Le jour de l'indépendence

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

JPY 850,881,900 (Japan) (6 December 1996)

Gross:

JPY 3,766,488,300 (Japan) (24 January 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Centropolis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min 153 min (special edition)

Sound Mix:

DTS 70 mm (70 mm print) DTS (35 mm prints) Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) SDDS (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Cpt. Hiller (Will Smith) is talking to Gen. Grey (Robert Loggia) about retuning to El Toro, the giant screen behind them is displaying some sort of night vision display and the bottom of the screen is endlessly rotating through various numbers and stats. At one point, instead of numbers, the screen reads "And now I see with eye serene the very pulse of the machine - Wordsworth", an excerpt of a William Wordsworth poem entitled "She Was a Phantom of Delight."

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Goofs

The scientist's mouth never opens when he orders to "open the launch tunnel".

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Quotes

[first lines]
SETI Chief: [answering telephone] If this isn't an insanely beautiful woman, I'm hangin' up.
SETI technician: Sir, I - I- I think you should listen to this.

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Crazy Credits

"Animal action was monitored by the American Humane Association. No animals or aliens were harmed in the making of this film."

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Connections

Features Entertainment Tonight (1981)

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Soundtracks

About You
Written by Paul Plaggens, Josh Gordon & Kyle Baer
Performed by Greta
Courtesy of Mercury Records by arrangement with Polygram
Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Fun summer blockbuster that some just took to seriously.

I enjoyed this movie, sure it isn't the most original movie ever made or the best, but it was what it set out to be...which is a combo alien attack movie of the 50's plus an all-star disaster movie of the 70's. A lot of critics don't like this one and a lot of people who think of themselves as critics don't care much for it either, but it still brought in over 300 million at the box office in the summer of 96. I thought it was an entertaining film with lots of action and a good dose of comedy as well. One complaint I have is that it runs a bit long and you feel the time pass not like other movies like "The Two Towers" where it doesn't feel like all that much time has passed. Another problem with this movie is that it is best seen in the theater. This movie has a score of only six at imdb, so a lot of people who saw it probably saw it on TV. Or if they did see it at the theaters, realized it just wasn't as good on the small screen when they saw it on TV. The movie also benefited from a great ad campaign that started with a super bowl spot that showed the White House being destroyed. The movie is basically an alien invasion movie and it is like a 50's science fiction movie. It also has a lot of stars, not the biggest names, just like a 70's disaster flick. If you don't care for either of these genres you probably won't like this movie, but if you like one or the other or both it is worth checking out. Just don't take it too seriously and have fun watching it.