Independence Day 3 is still possible as Roland Emmerich is hoping to make a third installment of the sci-fi franchise. After helming the original Independence Day in 1996, Emmerich returned to direct the sequel Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016. There's been no indication of another sequel happening anytime soon following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, perhaps due to the negative reception to Resurgence.

Five years after the release of the second movie, Emmerich says it's the perfect time to continue the story. He notes how Disney has a streaming service these days, teasing that it could be a great place to release the movie if the studio is hesitant of a theatrical release. Emmerich adds that it wouldn't even need to be a movie, as an Independence Day TV series could also work. Either way, he wants to see the story continue, as recently explained to ComicBook.com.

"They have now a streaming service and they need product. I would love to do maybe a third one, or a TV show, continuing the story. When we did Independence Day: Resurgence, we already had, also, the third part already. Actually, the third part has much more to do with the first part, because we learned, more or less, that out there are a lot of refugees and they're living on a refugee planet."

"And where [the aliens] finally come there because, somewhat like these aliens on earth, found out about it and telepathically or whatever gave it to their super queen. They're all humans, but in all different forms. So it's this thing that we have Brent Spiner and Jeff Goldblum and we have them with all these different forms of people, which would be a great movie. But we'll see what happens."

The original Independence Day was tremendously successful, pulling in over $817 million in 1996 (or around $1.4 billion when adjusting for inflation). Directed by Emmerich, it was co-written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin with Devlin also producing. Following a group of humans plotting a counter-attack on a race of invading aliens on the 4th of July, the movie stars Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, and Randy Quaid.

Emmerich returned to direct Independence Day: Resurgence, which was co-written with Devlin, James A. Woods, Nicolas Wright, and James Vanderbilt. The sequel controversially killed off Smith's character, though it brought back some returning stars like Goldblum and Pullman. Unfortunately, the movie did not have quite the same levels of financial success as its predecessor, earning less than $400 million on a budget of $165 million. The critical reception was even worse, as the movie sits on a rotten 30% score at Rotten Tomatoes.

Time will tell if Independence Day 3 ever comes to be, but at this time, it would seem that The Walt Disney Company is in no apparent rush to order its production. Perhaps that's all for the best for Emmerich, as the filmmaker also says he has "enough to do" and doesn't really need to focus on the franchise. This news comes to us from ComicBook.com.