Independence Day

"The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered."

1996 2h 25m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🍅

77%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 10,792🍅77%Rotten Tomatoes●59Metacritic★7IMDB · 642,170

ActionAdventureScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.

“The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered.”

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Cast

Will Smith
Capt. Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman
President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum
David Levinson
Mary McDonnell
Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch
Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia
General William Grey
Randy Quaid
Russell Casse
Margaret Colin
Constance Spano

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin, Rick Newsome
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $817M — a 10.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Independence Day Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Karl Walter Lindenlaub. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by David Arnold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roland Emmerich directs. Karl Walter Lindenlaub behind the camera. David Arnold scores. David Brenner cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Grossed $817M — a 10.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
330 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Independence Day Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Karl Walter Lindenlaub. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by David Arnold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor David Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Will Smith and Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered.".
11IMDB entry: tt0116629 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1210,792 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
13Classified under 22 themes, including "spacecraft", "showdown", "independence", "patriotism".
14Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Original score: David Arnold
Editing: David Brenner
Production design: Oliver Scholl
Costume design: Joseph A. Porro
Makeup / hair: Candace Neal
VFX supervisor: Volker Engel
Sound: John P. Fasal
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 145 min · 2h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $75,000,000
Box office: $817,400,891
Return: 1090% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Independence Day (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 59/100
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 642,170 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 35 wins & 35 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects
Saturn Award for Best Director
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
Amanda Award for Best Foreign Feature Film
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie
Satellite Award for Best Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Independence Day Collection

A series of science fiction action films that revolves around extraterrestrials invading Earth and seeking to eradicate mankind while the remaining human resistance uses everything at their disposal to defeat the invaders and take back the planet.

Also by

Roland Emmerich

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

isabellevillasenor2021-02-09
forever a classic!
Kamurai2021-03-10
★ 7/10
Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend. It's Will Smith fighting invading aliens, and Jeff Goldblum being almost annoyingly smart. The alien aspect of the movie and the story are all great, but there is also a lot of humanizing scenes to keep the audience reminded of for what the Terrans are fighting. I'm sure there is a supercut version that reduces the movie to 45-60 minutes of good old alien fighting and investigation, but it's nothing that's actually worth skipping. If you're into alien invasion / apocalypse movies, then make sure you put this on your to watch list.
The Movie Mob2023-01-21
★ 10/10
Disaster or alien movie (possibly even action movie) - it just doesn't get better than Independence Day! This 1996 sci-fi action blockbuster is one of the greatest of all time! When you watch the mega-blockbusters of the 1990s and compare them to each other, it is easy to forget how groundbreaking they really were. Films like Jurassic Park and Independence Day were massively ahead of their time, winning all kinds of awards and launching cinema into a new era of special effects. But Independence Day is much more than effects: the directing, the writing, the characters, the cast, the story, the pacing; everything about this movie is the perfect storm of excellence, enthusiasm, and entertainment. It is rare to find a film that so perfectly blends action, adventure, comedy, horror, and sci-fi as beautifully as this movie. Will Smith was a promising new actor surrounded by high-caliber performances from Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman. Seriously, we need to elect Bill Pullman's Thomas Whitmore as President. His speech to inspire the troops before the climactic final battle is among the most iconic in cinema history! Independence Day set the bar for alien invasion blockbusters and brilliantly told the separate stories of its main characters while weaving them together in the final act to save the world. Roland Emmerich knows how to do a disaster movie; this is his masterpiece.