Will Smith Won't Save the World in Independence Day 2

Say Independence Day and certain images come to mind. The alien mothership hovering over famous cities of the world, the White House being destroyed and, chief among them, Will Smith cigar in mouth quipping, "Now that's what I call a close encounter."

That single move told the world Smith, known for his rap career and TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, was a movie-star. He would go to be the King of July 4^th box office filling up audiences with his genuine charisma in between special effects-filled action, one-liners and that oversized box of popcorn and pop. His familiarity and trust with the public even persuaded them into less blockbuster friendly territory like Enemy of the State, Ali, Hitch and The Pursuit of Happyness.

So when the news hit last week an Independence Day sequel was officially happening, everyone assumed Smith would be back. Doing so without him lacks common sense, and all your friends and co-workers will say is, "Hey where’s Will Smith?"

Strangely that is what is going down. Speaking to New York Daily News, helmer Roland Emmerich confirmed Smith will not return to defend Earth again citing his expensive price-tag and being "too much of a marquee name."

That latter kinda makes no sense. By the time it opens (July 3, 2015), it have been nineteen years since the original. That is a long, ass time and the public will want as much familiarity to that ironically cheesy sci-fi actioner as possible. Smith, after all, is coming off the biggest flop of his career in After Earth and is due for something safe.

Altogether possible this is taking contract negotiations public. Or Emmerich and 20^th Century Fox really are that dumb. I mean, no offense, I love Jeff Goldblum as much as the next film nerd, but do you think the public would rather see him return for Independence Day 2 or Will Smith?