Will Smith On Board for Two Independence Day Sequels?

(HMG) – Will Smith has been in the headlines of late in anticipation of what movie(s) he will do next and what’s he doing in the meantime.  Will has not starred in a film since 2008′s ‘Seven Pounds’, although he has worked in a producer capacity on the recently completed ‘The Karate Kid’, movie which stars his son Jaden Smith, 11, and on wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s TV show ‘HawthoRNe.’  Everyone is anticipating Smith will first return to the big screen, once he decides between ‘Men in Black 3′ and ‘City that Sailed.’

Meanwhile it looks like his future dance card is filling up.  Two sequels to ‘Independence Day’ may shoot as early as 2011, according to movie news website IESB.net, with Will Smith making a comeback as pilot Captain Steve Hiller. The 1996 movie – which starred Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum as the saviors of earth after an alien attack – could get the follow-ups thanks to the success of James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi epic ‘Avatar’, which was released by 20th Century Fox, the same studio that distributed ‘Avatar’.    Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman has previously confirmed he wants to make a sequel to the sci-fi movie, which took over $800 million at the box office when it was released in 1996.  Director Roland Emmerich and writer Dean Devlin already have a story for the first sequel.