Will Smith’s 68% Rotten Tomatoes Sci-Fi Oscar-Winner Is a Free Streaming Hit After Grossing $817 Million

2024 was a big year for Will Smith, who returned to the role of Mike Lowery for the fourth time in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the legacy action sequel that hauled in more than $400 million at the worldwide box office. However, nearly 30 years ago he starred in a sci-fi epic that would go on to become one of his most famous movies of all time. Smith features alongside Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, the 1996 alien invasion film that follows humanity’s fight to survive against a more advanced race. Independence Day began streaming for free on Tubi not long ago, and the film has found swift success, currently in the #3 spot at the time of writing. It also earned scores of 68% from critics and 75% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Aside from Will Smith’s epic performance and an $817 million box office total against a $75 million budget, Independence Day’s biggest claim to fame is its Oscar win for Best Visual Effects, and its nomination for Best Sound. The film was written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, with Emmerich also stepping behind the camera to direct. Independence Day is still among Emerich’s most famous works in his career, along with The Day After Tomorrow, another disaster epic starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal that also found streaming success recently. He also directed the 1998 Godzilla movie starring Matthew Broderick and Hank Azaria, and his most recent work came from helming Moonfall, the critically panned space sci-fi disaster epic starring Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry, and Game of Thrones veteran John Bradley.

Will Smith Did Not Return for the ‘Independence Day’ Sequel

Director Roland Emmerich returned to helm Independence Day: Resurgence, the legacy sequel that was released 21 years after the original, but Will Smith did not reprise his role as Captain Steven Miler. Both Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pulman returned to reprise their roles, but Smith was replaced in the lead role by Liam Hemsworth, who plays Jake Morrison. Smith has said in the past that the only reason he didn’t star in Independence Day 2 was due to scheduling conflicts, primarily Suicide Squad, the comic book film starring Margot Robbie that was released in the same year as Independence Day 2 and was also filming around the same time.

Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and watch Independence Day on Tubi.