Seven years on, actress Vivica A. Fox has spoken about the reception and how she really feels about 2016’s “Independence Day: Resurgence” which she starred in.
Fox reprised her role of Jasmine Hiller from the Roland Emmerich-directed 1996 smash hit, an exotic dancer and the wife of Will Smith’s character Colonel Steven Hiller.
Twenty years later, her character was now a hospital administrator in Washington, D.C. following her husband Steven’s death during a test flight accident almost a decade earlier.
Speaking with The AV Club recently, she says Smith’s absence was a factor in why the film didn’t perform up to the level of the original:
“I just didn’t feel like it was good and lived up to the first one. I really feel we missed out by not bringing Will Smith [back]. We got most of the original cast but I think the one true link that was missing to the success of Independence Day 2 was that we missed that Will Smith wasn’t there.”
Back in 2016, Smith revealed that scheduling conflicts with “Suicide Squad” prevented him from getting involved. Coming in at a budget of $165 million, the film ended up grossing just $389.7 million – a far cry from its predecessor which cost just under half as much and made just over twice as much.