The demise of any Hollywood career is a hard thing to predict with any degree of certainty, especially when you consider the raft of names to have committed much more egregious sins than Will Smith who continue to find work on a regular basis.
While the slap heard around the world certainly dented his short-term prospects and did massive damage to his reputation as one of the most popular and widely-beloved stars of the modern age, it doesn’t seem to have done a thing to impact his earning power, with a new report from Variety outlining that Smith’s next two projects are poised to net him a cool $25 million apiece.
That’s even more galling when you consider that the $40 million he was paid for King Richard proved to be more money than his Best Actor-winning vehicle earned at the box office, while Apple TV’s Emancipation landed with a dull thud. Regardless, a blockbuster franchise sequel and a high concept Netflix actioner are virtually guaranteed home runs, with Bad Boys 4 and Fast and Loose up next as Smith begins to rehabilitate his image.
The latter was placed on hold in the aftermath of the Oscars incident, with a source revealing to Variety that the streaming service was wary of being the first major outfit to get in bed with Smith following the headline-grabbing controversy. Now that the dust is settled – and Apple got there first before Sony swooped in to reunite him with Martin Lawrence – it’s all systems go once more.