Apologies if you were building a special, alien-ship-destroys-the-White-House hat to celebrate the 3D-flavoured return of Independence Day to our cinemas on July 3 next year: It’s no longer happening.

According to Box Office Mojo, 20th Century Fox, which has been shoving the 1996 Roland Emmerich destruct-o-thon through the third dimensional car wash in preparation for a big re-release, has taken it from the schedule, with no other date listed yet.

Of course, it probably just means that you’ll have more time to perfect the flying bits of debris you were planning to attach via wire, because there’s every chance it will still happen. Just not next July.

No official reason has been given, but the speculation about the reasons for it has noted on the fact that Emmerich’s latest White House Down opening a week before the planned date and Will Smith’s, After Earth, a month after (albeit from different studios, which is unlikely to be a huge factor), and theorised that the film needed more time than planned to be converted properly. Which would actually be a good thing if the studio is looking to do a proper job.

And no, there’s no word on what this might mean for the long-rumoured, still not-quite active sequels. We'll keep our ears to the ground.