30 years ago today, I watched the hit alien-invasion epic Independence Day at the theater. I've spoken about the sci-fi blockbuster—which is my favorite movie of 1996—so many times throughout the years that there's really nothing new to say about the film (but stay on this page, anyway)! Though in the wake of the latest files released by the Pentagon about UFOs encountered by U.S. military pilots over the past few decades, blogging about ID4 today couldn't be more timely. If you want to read previous things that I've said about the Roland Emmerich-directed epic, you can visit this blog update which celebrated the 10-year anniversary of ID4 in 2006.
Did I post an entry commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Independence Day: Resurgence (which was released in theaters nationwide on June 24, 2016) this year, you ask? No, I did not. That movie broke my heart like the Dumb and Dumber sequel, Dumb and Dumber To did in 2014. With that being said, Happy Fourth of July weekend to my fellow Yanks!
It's America's 250th birthday this Saturday... It sure would be nice if we had a different group of people running this country during this momentous occasion. Anyways, back to celebrating how awesome a movie ID4 was!
#OTD 30 years ago, I watched one of the greatest movie speeches ever on the big screen...#ID4 #IndependenceDay pic.twitter.com/Bhz8aobCzs
— Richard Par (@RichTPar) July 2, 2026
