If you stayed at home and watched TV during the 4th of July, there’s no doubt that you probably came across Roland Emmerich’s holiday sci-fi actioner Independence Day. Rumors of a sequel have always lingered but any news to update us on the subject has been scarce. While Dean Devlin (Flyboys, The Patriot) and Emmerich have been working on a script for the sequel for some time, they haven’t been officially greenlight for production.

So while anxious fans await the day the sequel begins filming, Delvin spoke to The Hollywood Reporter to address the status of the film and how long it would take to get the Independence Day sequel into production.

Two of next year’s most anticipated blockbusters are getting their release dates shifted. Gore Verbinski‘s big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer has moved from May 31st to July 3rd, pitting it against Despicable Me 2 and 20th Century Fox’s 3D re-release of Independence Day. Meanwhile, the Marvel Studios sequel Thor 2 being directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) will now open on November 8th instead of November 15th, giving it a much-needed two-week head start before the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The Thor 2 release date move is a canny one as it will need all the time it can get before Catching Fire is released. While there’s no doubt that the original Thor was a successful film and has seen its following grow substantially in the wake of The Avengers, the first Hunger Games has the greatest appeal to younger moviegoers, particularly since both movies will be competing for those all-important holiday season dollars.

Fox has just released a collection of release dates for some of their major films. The slate contains highly anticipated sequels, original projects, and a re-release, including Independence Day 3D, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and an untitled X-Men: First Class Sequel.

First up, Fox plans to release a Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy untitled buddy cop comedy on April 5, 2013. That will be followed by a 3D re-release of Independence Day on the fitting date of July 3, 2013. That same year, the Percy Jackson sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters hits theaters on August 16, 2013. And closing out the year for Fox will be the adaptation of the highly successful TV series Walking with the Dinosaurs on December 20th and the Ben Stiller-directed comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty on Christmas Day.

Every day, Amazon offers up “Lightning Deals,” limited quantities of various products for a discounted price for a 4-hour window of time. You have to be on the lookout for these deals and once the item runs out, the sale is over. Meaning, if you see something on sale that you want, buy it immediately before it’s gone.

Typically you don’t know what will be on sale until the minute it gets posted, but as a prelude to Black Friday, Amazon has released the Lightning Deal schedule and prices for Movies & TV on DVD and Blu-ray for Monday, November 21, starting at 8:30am PST. See list of Monday’s deals here below, along with more information on how these special deals work.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2011

8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PST

The Cider House Rules
Blu-ray – $4.99

Muppet Five-Pack with Tin
DVD – $49.99

HD MOODS: Aquarium
Blu-ray – $7.49

HD MOODS: Fire
Blu-ray – $5.99

Last time we heard about the discussed sequels to 1996’s Independence Day, it was just whispers and not much was thought of the rumor at the time.

Now it looks like the movies are much more likely to happen than was once thought. So much so that it’s being reported that director Roland Emmerich and screenwriter Dean Devlin are finishing up work on scripts for Independence Day 2 and Independence Day 3, with hopes being that they will be completed by mid-December. The plan as it stands right now is for the movies to be filmed back-to-back, which is quickly becoming the preferred production method for two planned sequels.