Sony couldn’t have a more fitting title for Will Smith, for whom the film is doing very well.
If it works, it could kick-start Smith’s film career more than two years after he slapped Oscars host Chris Rock on live television, tarnishing the public image he cultivated. He had spent many decades.
The advance — the kind of fun character people enjoy watching Smith play — has learned that his agents at CAA are calling studio production execs for the first time since the slap. Over the past three or four weeks, they’ve inquired whether studios have projects that would be right for Smith, and according to multiple sources, they’ve even made a proposal or two. Hopefully Smiths next film can be announced relatively soon, should work. And at least one major Hollywood studio is considering Smith for a high-profile project with a branded IP if the film succeeds, another source said.
Box office observers believe that slapstick isn’t the only challenge, or even the biggest one, facing Smith and Martin Lawrence as a fun buddy comedy that’s been missing of late. “I can’t even imagine [the slap] Who on earth chooses whether or not to watch a movie based on a viral moment from two years ago? quips an exec at a major theater chain.
The other pitfall — and it’s a big one — is a moribund summer box office that has seen film after film underperform amid a lack of tentpoles from all audiences that were delayed by last year’s strikes. Movie-going begets movie-going, as seen last year by the Barbenheimer effect. Currently consumers are not in the habit of going to the cinema at all, so nothing is produced there.
As an actor, Smith lost very few projects due to slaps. Netflix put the feature on the backburner, even though the crime drama was already on the ropes due to director David Leitch’s exit before the controversy. But in the two years since the slapstick, he’s been on the sidelines for new acting deals.
His most high-profile upcoming game as an actor is the Warner Bros.-set High Wattage, which he is producing with co-stars Michael B. Jordan and Akiva Goldsman, after co-writing the blockbuster. Back to writing the script. Original 2007. Jordan announced he was joining the sequel in early March 2022, days before Slap. And while sources say the project is nowhere near the starting line — no shooting script is ready and no director is officially attached — Jordan is committed to making the project.
Jordan — one of Hollywood’s most respected filmmakers, assistants and producers — said in comments published Wednesday that he was excited to begin shooting with Smith once the script was ordered. The timing of these comments could not have been a coincidence, as Smith continued to push his comeback.
“We’re still working on the script and fine-tuning it,” Jordan said. “It doesn’t have a release date or anything like that. I’m not sure where we’re going to film it, but I’m very excited to be in front of the camera with it,” says a source at Rival Studios. Rumors were doing the rounds that the project was delayed due to the script.
Also, Smith doesn’t have anything that’s been announced much (a Kevin Hart reboot was announced in 2020, with little development since then). But it would only take one major casting announcement to change the trajectory for him as an actor. Still, unless it hits it out of the park and enjoys a strong multiple, other studios may need more proof before rolling the dice on Smith.
“It will open the door, but it’s the next film that will allow him to walk through the door,” says one executive.
Pre-release tracking shows an opening between $40 million and $50 million. Given the dismal state of the marketplace and the fact that tracking has largely ceased, Sony is more cautious in suggesting $30 million. If Smith and Lawrence’s film can open between $40 million and $50 million, it would be an impressive feat for a $100 million project and the second-best debut of the troubled summer behind ($58 million), making Significantly higher costs (a net $160 million).
In January 2020, it revived the dormant franchise with an opening of $62.5 million domestically on its way to a $426.5 million global gross of $206.3 million in North America and $220 overseas — all of which cemented Smith’s enduring star status worldwide. indicate.
Smith, who rose to fame as a rapper and star of a ’90s sitcom, became one of the world’s biggest movie stars with films like (1996) and (1997). For much of the 2000s, as well as in recent years, he tended to tackle more serious fare, such as the gripping slave drama Apple, which resulted in Slap, and which eventually won him an Oscar. What did
Some believe it could be better served by more commercial fare, or at least a mix, especially since a whole new generation of younger audiences are discovering TikTok. A person with access to the data says that may be part of the reason why social media metrics add up.
“When Will is having fun, we have fun with him,” says a person who has known the actor for years. “If he plays a casual entertainer, he can become a movie star again. It all depends on the roles he chooses. He chose serious roles because that’s what he wanted to tackle.” But it’s a different world.”
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