'Independence Day 2' Looking More Likely Than Ever

With his "Men in Black 3" money freshly burning holes in his pockets, a return to the blockbuster phenomenon that made "Men In Black" possible could one day be bringing Will Smith's career full-circle.

It's been 16 years since 1996's Earth-versus-aliens disaster-piece blockbuster "Independence Day" cemented Will Smith as a summer-movie season license to print money. Along the way, it also became the crowning legacy of co-writer Dean Devlin and writer-director Roland Emmerich.

At present, it's 2012, and The Hollywood Reporter and The Huffington Post quote Devlin as saying the time at last feels right for the rematch.

"We resisted doing the sequel for years because we still wanted to honor the first one," Devlin reportedly said. "The first one gave us all careers and we really love that movie and loved the experience.

"I feel like we got it," he added. "I think it took a long time, but I feel like we finally got something that really feels like, 'That's worth seeing as a sequel to 'Independence Day.'"

As recently as last October, Vulture reported that 20th Century Fox wanted not one, but two sequels sent into productions yesterday. By all logic, it should've been a deal-breaker that Smith reportedly balked at returning to his starring role as Air Force Capt. Steven Hiller. It's rumored that Fox was ready to push the sequels forward with or without Smith's involvement.

As HuffPo points out, though, it's not like Smith has never revisited a past role far, far after the fact. Eight years passed between starring in "Bad Boys" alongside Martin Lawrence and reuniting the pair in "Bad Boys 2." A full decade passed between "Men in Black 2" and this summer's third installment.

A return to the world of "Independence Day" - maybe alongside original stars Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Vivica A. Fox - could be lucrative if the success of the first could be matched. In a time preceding IMAX and 3-D releases, "Independence Day" grossed $817 million worldwide.

"We didn't want to make a movie because it was financially a good idea, we only wanted to do it when we had an idea and a concept that creatively felt like it honored the first one - that it felt like an organic sequel as opposed to 'let's just go make some more money,'" Devlin added.