The large-scale, special-effects-driven destruction of sci-fi disaster movies has served as a cornerstone of blockbuster cinema for decades now. While films like Greenland, The Day After Tomorrow, and Armageddon remain staples of the genre, one movie still reigns supreme. As Netflix stocked titles in its content library this February, it added the best sci-fi disaster movie of the last 30 years, and it unsurprisingly became a streaming hit.
Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day remains a cornerstone of 1990s sci-fi, and Netflix subscribers can now stream the 1996 classic. The Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman-starring movie joined Netflix’s streaming lineup on February 1st and proved its enduring legacy when it jumped onto the streaming charts in the U.S. For those who need a refresher, Independence Day centers around a group of people who unite to launch a desperate, last-ditch counterattack on July 4th against a powerful extraterrestrial race that has devastated Earth’s major cities and left humanity fighting for survival. The movie was a massive blockbuster, securing an $817 million gross haul to become the second-highest-grossing film ever at the time.
Independence Day Redefined the Alien Invasion Genre
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There are a lot of reasons why Independence Day is good, but chief among them is the fact that the movie completely redefined the alien invasion genre. The movie served as a watershed moment in cinema, effectively shifting the alien invasion genre from the quiet, paranoid tales of films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day the Earth Stood Still to a loud, blockbuster spectacle and the widescreen destruction seen in modern films. The 1996 classic took the tropes of beloved 1950s creature feature invasion stories and blended them with the structure of 1970s disaster movies like The Towering Inferno, splitting the narrative among various characters across different locations and prioritizing global destruction and immediate, high-stakes action over intimate, psychological dread in a format that turned the genre into a summer blockbuster staple.
More than just its enduring influence on the alien invasion genre, Independence Day really is the ultimate popcorn movie experience. It features the perfect blend of intense, high-stakes action, humor, and awe and features an iconic cast of characters who brought a fun, heroic energy to the disaster genre. The movie also earned its title as one of the genre’s best by setting a new standard for special effects, the combination of groundbreaking CGI with massive, detailed miniature models creating realistic, immersive, and often horrifying depictions of city-wide destruction that still hold up today.
What’s new on Netflix?
Independence Day is one of dozens of movies freshly streaming on Netflix. The largest number of new arrivals dropped on February 1st, when everything from the Night at the Museum trilogy to Zero Dark Thirty started streaming. The Netflix library is now also streaming films like the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, The Black Phone, and The Iron Claw.
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