MUMBAI: Its finally official, the 1996 alien invasion is to strike back after 19 years with the Independence Day 2 hitting the box office come 2015. After clearing all the speculations Twentieth Century Fox announced on Thursday that the sequel to the blockbuster hit Independence Day(1996) will arrive in theatres on July 3, 2015.

While the reports confirm the original‘s director Roland Emmerich‘s involvement in the sequel, it remains unclear of whether the original‘s cast would be returning back. The 57-year-old filmmaker is currently travelling around the globe for White House Down, which release in the coming week.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, co-screenwriter of Independence Day Dean Devlin commented, "We resisted doing the sequel for years because we still wanted to honour the first one. The first one gave us all careers and we really love that movie and loved the experience. I think it took a long time, but I feel like we finally got something that really feels like, ‘That‘s worth seeing as a sequel to Independence Day‘."

The 1996 sci-fi, Independence Day included a powerful cast of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum. While the original plot revolved around an alien invasion and Earth‘s retaliation to defend its stand, it saw Will Smith take over the role of Captain Steven Hiller and Bill Pullman as the President of United States of America.

In an interview with Crave Online earlier this year, Bill Pullman shared that, "The Will Smith part of it may be ongoing but I think there‘s strategies for both. I like what I have to do in both of them. I‘m not in an old age home in a wheelchair being wheeled out for one more moment. It‘s a very interesting conception of what happens to my character between then and when it picks back up."

As for the release date July 3, 2015, Independence Day 2 joins a list of massive blockbusters lined up on that summer‘s calendar, including Marvel‘s The Avengers 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Jurassic Park 4 and, perhaps, Star Wars: Episode VII.