Last fall [1996], Hezbollah, or the Party of God, issued a statement calling the film "propaganda for the so-called genius of the Jews and their alleged concern for humanity." Warning Muslim believers to boycott the movie, which was directed by Roland Emmerich, who is not Jewish but German, Hezbollah reminded fellow Muslims that paying money to see the film would "reward the bloodsuckers of Qana," a reference to Israel (which bombed Qana, a U.N. camp in Lebanon), and Israel's protector, the United States. But according to a Fox executive who keeps track of international sales, Hezbollah's warning did not hurt box office revenues in Lebanon, which has an estimated four million people. Quite the contrary. Between Sept. 20 and Dec. 12, the executive said, some 98,000 people went to see Independence Day in Lebanon; the film grossed almost $600,000 — an impressive showing for any film. "I respect anyone's religion," Mr. Goldblum said in an interview, "but I think Hezbollah has missed the point"[.]" Hezbollah's anti-Jewish crusade, he added, "does not sit well with me."
— Judith Miller (The New York Times)
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.