Will Smith Is In Talks To Join ‘Aladdin’ Reboot, Find Out Which Role He’ll Be Taking On!

According to multiple reports, Will Smith is in talks to voice the Genie in Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin, which is being directed by the talented Guy Ritchie.

Most of you will remember that the late (and great!) Robin Williams voiced the role in the original 1992 classic. The move would make sense for Smith. He’s been wanting to land a family-friendly film for a while now after his recent string of adult dramas and big action films.

He was circling one of the lead roles in ‘Dumbo,‘ but he walked away because of scheduling conflicts.

If he gets the role, Smith will probably be the biggest name in the movie. The studio plans to cast newcomers as Jasmine and Aladdin.

We have high hopes for this movie. As mentioned above, Guy Ritchie will be directing it, and the wonderful John August wrote the script for it. August is the screenwriter behind Big Fish and Frankenweenie. He also co-hosts the Scriptnotes podcast with fellow screenwriter Craig Mazin.

We’ll see if this updated version of Aladdin can match the success of the 1992 film. It was the highest-grossing film of the year in 1992, and won two Academy Awards.

The First Official Trailer For Netflix Original Film ‘Bright’ Featuring Will Smith Has Been Released

Netflix is going big with this one. We have seen Netflix push hard this past year for original content. They have released several original TV shows, and a few independent films.

But now they’re going big. Real big. The streaming service put out $90 million for Bright, a fantasy action film starring Will Smith.

And Will Smith isn’t the only big name attached to this project. The director of the movie is David Ayer, who worked with Smith on the recent Suicide Squad film.

It appears to be a buddy-cop movie buried inside a fantasy world, and it actually looks pretty freaking good. You can check out the synopsis and trailer below. It’s scheduled to be released on Netflix in December 2017.

Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.”

Check Out Will Smith In The First Trailer For ‘Collateral Beauty,’ Which Has Been Compared To ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ (VIDEO)

When Will Smith talked to EW in August about this upcoming film, he described it as a beautiful mix of It’s A Wonderful Life and The Wizard of Oz. That’s a pretty huge statement. It’s like baking a cookie, and then telling people it’ll remind them of Oreos and fairy dust.

But Smith truly believes Collateral Beauty will be a classic, and until I watch the full movie, I’m going to trust him on this. I will say that the trailer does look promising. I’m not getting ~instant classic~ vibes; however it does look like the perfect holiday film.

The 47-year-old actor stars in the movie as a once-successful business man who has found himself battling depression following a personal tragedy. His circle of friends, played by Kate Winslet, Edward Norton and Michael Pena, start to worry about him when he starts writing letters to “various objects and themes like love and death.”

And since this is a Hollywood movie, Love, Death, and Time respond to his letters by showing up randomly in his life. Kiera Knightley plays Love, Helen Mirren plays Death and Jacob Latimore stars as Time.

One of the most impressive things about Collateral Beauty is its cast. Just look at all the names mentioned above. Can one film handle such a great amount of talent? We’ll find out pretty soon. It will hit theaters December 16, 2016.

 

Will Smith Says He Regrets Trying To Be World’s Biggest Movie Star, Wants To Focus On Creating Great Content

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We all know Will Smith is one of the most successful actors in Hollywood. He’s the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films bring home more than $100 million at the domestic box office. Movies starring Will Smith make a lot of money.

Or at least they did. When people cared more about the cast and less about the actual movie. As Smith explained at Cannes Lions earlier this week, it was easier to trick the audience back in the day. Social media wasn’t as popular, so people wouldn’t hear how terrible (or amazing) a movie was until the following week, which meant those important opening weekend numbers were still great.

The desire to be the biggest star in the world caused the 47-year-old actor to make some bad decisions.

“I had so much success that I started to taste global blood and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning. I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag—around Wild Wild West time—I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.”

Looking at Smith’s comments, you get the feeling he knew going in that Wild Wild West was a terrible film. Critics slammed the movie, but it still made over $220 million on a budget that was reportedly around $170 million.

But if a similar film came out today? No way it would make over $200 million.

“Back in the ’80s and ’90s you had a piece of crap movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was s–t…But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting, ‘This is s–t. Go see Vin Diesel.'”

Obviously, Smith is being a little hard on himself here. He’s made a few crappy films, but he’s also starred in some truly wonderful films: Concussion, I Am Legend, The Pursuit of Happyness, Men in Black, Enemy of the State.

Oh and there was this little show called Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

 

Chris Rock Won’t Back Down As Oscars Host, But He Is Making Some Huge Changes To His Monologue

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All of those people asking Chris Rock to step down as the host of the upcoming 2016 Academy Awards are just wasting their time. The 50-year-old actor/comedian is not backing down. In fact, the recent controversy surrounding the event has made it even more important that he stay on as host.

Why? Because he has the chance to make this a night to remember. He has a chance to make a change with his opening monologue, and it looks like he’s taking this whole thing very seriously.

The 88th annual Academy Awards producer, Reginald Hudlin, talked with Entertainment Tonight and revealed Rock is writing a brand new show. He’s throwing out the old script he had planned.

“He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room. As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show.’”

Hudlin confirmed there will be a lot of jokes addressing the “#OscarsSoWhitecontroversy, “They know that’s what the public wants, and we deliver what the people want.”

Sounds like it should be an exciting night. A night some stars have already promised to miss. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith have announced they will not be watching the show, along with Spike Lee and Michael Moore.

Will you be watching?

How Did Will Smith React When He Discovered His ‘Independence Day’ Character Died?

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As most of you know, the Independence Day sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, will not feature Will Smith. Some fans were still hoping his character would make a surprise appearance in the sequel, but those dreams were crushed when the promotional website for the film announced that his character died several years ago.

While test piloting the ESD’s first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction caused the untimely death of Col. Hiller.” The website reported. It was shocking news to Independence Day fans around the world.

Including Will Smith himself. While promoting his latest film, Concussion, he was asked about what it was like finding out the depressing news, “It was terrible when I found out my character died.” He told Yahoo! Movies.

He added that he actually talked with the film’s director before they made the decision…

“I was working on Suicide Squad during that time. Roland and I had talked about it. The trailer looks really cool. I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out.”

You won’t be the only one, Smith. The good news is that Smith’s character will live on through his son Dylan Dubrow-Hiller played by Jessie Usher.

The film hits theaters June 24, 2016.

Will Smith Reveals The Real Reason He Passed On Django Unchained, And You Might Be Surprised By His Comments

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Remember 2012’s Django Unchained? You better. It was immensely entertaining, earning over $420 million worldwide. It was also a huge hit with critics and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Most actors would have traded in their right arm to work on the film.

But not Will Smith. Director/writer Quentin Tarantino made it clear that Jamie Foxx wasn’t his original choice. He was talking with several actors before filming, and Will Smith was the front-runner. After the film was released, Tarantino claimed Smith didn’t walk away from the project. The material just wasn’t 100% right for him. He didn’t feel comfortable.

Fast forward a few years later, and Will Smith finally opened up about the role. During The Hollywood Reporter’s annual actor’s roundtable, Smith talked about how he wanted the movie to be a true love story.

“I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story. We can’t look at what happens in Paris [the terrorist attacks] and want to f— somebody up for that. Violence begets violence. I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer.”

Of course, the problem with this idea is that no one wants to watch Quentin Tarantino make some bizarre version of A Walk to Remember. When you watch a Tarantino film you want to be amazed by the action and violence. You want to leave the theater saying, “Ohhh sh-t! Did you see that?” as opposed to “Aww! That was adorable.”

I love Will Smith, but I’m glad Tarantino didn’t allow him to change his story.

Watch: Will Smith Stars In First Trailer For Controversial ‘Concussion’ Film About NFL Head Injuries

The upcoming sports drama Concussion starring Will Smith has released its first trailer. Peter Landesman is the writer and director behind the project, which has received a lot of attention from the NFL. It’s based on a 2009 GQ article, the film tells the story of the magnificent forensic neuropathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu. He was the first to discover a link between football injuries and early-onset dementia that could lead to death.

His relationship with the NFL took a nasty turn after he diagnosed several football players with CTE, a football-related brain trauma caused by repeated blows to the head.

As mentioned above, Landesman wrote and directed this film, which also stars Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks and Luke Wilson. It’s scheduled to hit theaters December 25, 2015. And as you can imagine, going up against the country’s most popular and powerful sports league wasn’t easy for Omalu, Landesman and Sony Pictures. According to a recent New York Times report, executives at Sony were forced to soften parts of the story.

The Times searched through the leaked emails from last year and found this interesting message from Dwight Caines, the president of domestic marketing at Sony Pictures…

“Will is not anti football (nor is the movie) and isn’t planning to be a spokesman for what football should be or shouldn’t be but rather is an actor taking on an exciting challenge. We’ll develop messaging with the help of N.F.L. consultant to ensure that we are telling a dramatic story and not kicking the hornet’s nest.”

You can read the full report by clicking this link, and you can check out the trailer below.

 

Huge Casting News For ‘Independence Day 2’ Liam Hemsworth Grabs Lead Role, Jeff Goldblum Returns!

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Three names have been added to the Independence Day 2 cast, but you’ve probably only heard of two of them. It was announced yesterday that Liam Hemsworth has officially been cast in a lead role. His character hasn’t been named yet, but reports claim he will be playing the nephew of Bill Pullman’s president character, which is a little confusing if it is true.

If I remember correctly (it’s been a while), but the President had a daughter in the original movie, right? Why not just bring her back? Why create some nephew character we never saw in the first film? I would have loved to see someone like Natalie Dormer kicking some alien butt.

Anyway, the good news is that Jeff Goldblum will reprise his role from the original film. Sadly, Will Smith won’t be returning, but an actor by the name of Jessie Usher will reportedly play the son of Will Smith’s character in the sequel.

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Jessie Usher may not be a huge name right now, but many experts believe this blockbuster will make him a household name. He’s just 23-years-old and is already the lead of Starz’s series, Survivor’s Remorse. He also starred in the 2014 film, When the Game Stands Tall.

Currently, the film is expected to hit theaters June 24, 2016, which is almost exactly 20 years after the original film was released in theaters back in 1996.

Will Smith’s ‘Focus’ Tops The Box Office, But Was It Still A Disappointing Opening?

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The good news? Will Smith and Margot Robbie topped the weekend box office, beating out Kingsman: The Secret Service and Fifty Shades of Grey.

The bad news? It only took home home $19.1 million. Many experts believed the film would take home over $20 million. It also ranks as Will Smith’s second weakest debut in ten years, which is making some people wonder if his career is doing downhill. Can he no longer survive on his name alone?

It’s a fair question, but I don’t think it’s possible to provide an accurate answer yet. Focus was never expected to be a huge film, and there was a lot of bad weather this past weekend. Jeff Goldstein, distribution executive vice president at Warner Bros. claims the freezing cold prevented the film from hitting the $20 million mark.

“It’s all about the snow and the freezing cold. If we had not been beat up by inclement weather, we would have hit $20 million-plus.”

He could be right, but most Americans aren’t going to let a little snow keep them away from a movie they really want to watch.

How do the critics feel about the movie? Their reviews have been mixed. It scored a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, with some critics claiming it was fun and entertaining. Other critics say they expected more from Will Smith, adding that the film makes it difficult to connect with the main characters.

It took $50 million to produce the film, so Warner Bros. is hoping it finds success overseas, and it should because Will Smith’s name is still a big draw all over the world.

At the end of the day, the disappointing opening says more about the film than Will Smith’s career.