Independence Day (1996)

Most people think so. 84% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics gave it 64%.

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. Wikipedia ↗

Independence Day is a 1996 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. The film depicts an alien invasion of Earth on a massive scale, as enormous spacecraft position themselves over the world's major cities and unleash devastating attacks that destroy landmarks including the White House, the Empire State Building, and the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.

Will Smith stars as Captain Steven Hiller, a Marine fighter pilot, Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, a cable technician who discovers the aliens' attack signal, and Bill Pullman as President Thomas Whitmore, who ultimately leads the counterattack. Independence Day was the quintessential 1990s blockbuster — big, loud, patriotic, and unapologetically entertaining. The White House explosion became the decade's most iconic visual effects shot, and Will Smith's cocky, charismatic performance — including the line "Welcome to Earth" as he punches an alien — cemented his status as Hollywood's biggest movie star.

The film earned $817 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 1996 and the second highest-grossing film of all time at that point. Roland Emmerich essentially invented the modern disaster film formula — multiple parallel storylines converging toward a globally coordinated climax — that would influence blockbuster filmmaking for decades.