Star Trek: Beyond and Independence Day: Resurrection

Two science fiction movies began to get attention in the past couple of days.

Fans have long been waiting for and jumping on bits of internet gossip surrounding a sequel to the 1996 science fiction action film, Independence Day. Rumors were flying in recent months about the cast. A recent article by Deadline: Hollywood claims that two scripts were written for the Independence Day sequel. One that would include Will Smith reprising his role as Steven Hiller and one that would not. When Smith decided not to take the role, they had a backup ready to roll.

This first trailer doesn't give a lot of information, other than the aliens are returning (may have stayed around anyway - based on the graveyard scene), David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) has been preparing for this for some time by refitting Earth defenses from the wreckage of the last attack, and President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) is pretty haggard. I'm looking forward to this film, as I thoroughly enjoyed the original.

The trailer for the newest installment in the J.J. Abrams parallel timeline, reboot Star Trek series dropped today as well. Abrams is not directing this time, however. We have Justin Lin who is best-known for his work on 3 of the Fast and the Furious films. Star Trek: Beyond's first trailer shows quite a bit of story line and lets us see what happens when, as Eric Deggans puts it, the final frontier pushes back. Unlike some, I have really enjoyed this re imagining of the Star Trek franchise, mostly due to the essential unity in character. While their lives may have been different, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest all have essentially the same character traits and personalities that made the original show and movies what they were. I'm looking forward to this one as well.