Independence Day (also known by its promotional abbreviation ID4) is an Academy Award winning science fiction film directed by Roland Emmerich. The film's plot is about an attempted alien invasion of Earth.
The film's success was partially credited to an extensive marketing campaign that began in the United States with a dramatic commercial during the Super Bowl XXX, for which Fox paid $1.3 million. The publicity stunt marks the first time a movie was advertised during a Super Bowl.
The movie was scheduled for release on July 3, 1996,[citation needed] but due to the high level of anticipation for the film, many theaters began showing it on the evening of July 2, 1996,[citation needed] the same day the action in the film begins. The movie's total worldwide gross was $816,969,268 - the 18th highest worldwide gross for a movie all-time, and it is rated 49th best sci-fi movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.
When Earth comes under attack from an advanced extraterrestrial species, the survivors must band together to repel the invaders.
On July 2, an alien mothership enters orbit around Earth, deploying several dozen smaller spacecraft to hover over many of the world's major cities. Satellite transmissions from the craft are discovered, by scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), to be a timer which he believes is a countdown to a coordinated attack by the aliens. Having made his way to the White House with his father, he warns President Thomas J. Whitmore ( Bill Pullman) of the impending attack. After three US Air Force helicopters are shot down by an alien spacecraft while attempting to establish communications in Welcome Wagon formation, the president orders the evacuation of affected cities. Before the countdown reaches zero, he flees the White House aboard Air Force One with his staff and Levinson. At zero point, the hovering City-Destroyers open fire upon their targets with advanced directed-energy weapons, incinerating entire cities and killing millions.
