Even if you are a huge Independence Day fan, that first trailer may have left you scratching your head. It looked cool, but it didn’t quite live up to the pinnacle of spectacle that was blowing up the White House. A new trailer shown at CinemaCon 2016, however, does.
We start with a massive celebration. It’s the 20th anniversary of the War of 1996 where humanity triumphed over the aliens. The crowds are huge, and you notice right away that all the buildings, vehicles and weapons are inspired by alien tech. The new President talks about how, because of the attacks, they have been able to build a stronger, safer Earth.
That technology seems to discover something. A distress call, sent by the aliens and now the Earthlings know: “They’re coming back.” We see Bill Pullman’s character, Jeff Goldblum’s, all the usual suspects. A set of alien-influenced human ships fly to the White House.
We also get our glimpse of the new alien ship. The problem is, you can’t really show it in a single frame because it’s so big. One is the size of the entire Atlantic Ocean. And something that size has its own gravity, so that’s why major cities start to get sucked up into the air. “What goes up must come down,” Goldblum says, as the cities come falling down.
There are shots of tens of thousands of alien fighters flying around. Through the skies, protecting military assets, mass insanity. Cities being destroyed. Soldiers band together and declare, “We must remind that that Earth is not for the taking.” Someone explains that in the 20 years that have passed since the invasion, humans have raised a generation who believes they can win. However, Goldblum thinks this time, the war is not winnable. Pullman reminds him, it wasn’t last time either. It will require sacrifice.
Among the chaos and destruction, there’s a shot of what looked like a huge leg crashing down into the street. We assume this is some kind of mega-alien, kaiju type thing. Having not just big ships, but big aliens to fight is definitely one way this movie can expand on the first one.
The trailer ends with Liam Hemsworth’s character flying low through the rivers of London, as the city burns and major landmarks fall all around him. “They like to get the landmarks,” Goldblum says.
Director Roland Emmerich hinted this trailer was specially cut for CinemaCon, so we aren’t sure if it will be online. But some kind of new trailer should be online soon as Independence Day: Resurgence opens June 23.