Talk about fiction and fact colliding! As the front pages of the right-wing papers in the UK have been declaring 'Independence Day', marketing executives at Fox studios must have been jumping with delight as the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster goes on release there.
At the end of the day, free advertising is free advertising and the synchronicity of the Brexit result with the release of Independence Day: Resurgence in the UK is literally marketing mana from the (alien infested) heavens.
For those in the Remain camp, the sight of London being flattened by the hordes of angry extraterrestrials could become the perfect symbol of the upheaval triggered by the vote to leave the EU. As Jeff Goldblum says in the trailer, "They like to get the landmarks".
Mind you the symbolism of the destruction of civilisation by the alien armageddon neatly chimes with the anti-migrant tone from several quarters in the Leave campaign, something the movie execs might be anxious to side step.
Either way, the UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been giving it the full Bill Pulman as US President treatment with his declaration that the 23rd June should go down as "independence day". Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wasn't far behind with her (resurgent) threat to hold a second independence referendum. And yes the memes have started.
Read TEN's Independence Day: Resurgence review here.
