Will Smith is one of the greatest actors in Hollywood no doubt. And there was probably a time that his name was enough to make a film successful. Over the years he has played a number of iconic characters in various films across genres.
Will Smith has had a knack for playing the hero and has seldom don on the role of antagonists. Despite being as influential an actor he is, there have been times when he faced failure. Back in 2014, he appeared for a brief stint as a villain, however, the $75 million fantasy film failed to make its mark and fared badly at the box-office.
The Time When Even Will Smith Couldn’t Save This $75M Fantasy Film
Based on the popular 1983 novel of the same name, Winter’s Tale was released in 2014. Containing a brief cameo by Will Smith as a Villain, the movie failed to recreate the magical effect the book had on its readers. Containing several other A-listers, the film seemed like multiple random scenes put together without a connection. Trying too hard to show the tragic story of the two leads, Winter’s Tale seemed absurd rather than anything tragic.
The movie was under fire since before it even began production. Due to the small budget and film studio continuously aiming to have the budget further reduce, Smith had to let go of his huge salary to be a part of the film. The film’s director Akiva Goldsman, revealed in an interview,
“The truth is, we didn’t have a very large budget, so I asked everyone who I’d every worked with if they would think about doing it. And pretty much every person onscreen worked for scale or just about scale.”
Despite the huge salary cut and Smith being an establish star at that time, Winter’s Tale was one of the lowest grossing films of all times.
Will Smith’s Performance has Nosedived
For years, Will Smith remained a star that captivated audiences with his charm, acting genius, and captivating performance. However, the days of his box office dominance seem to have ended. While movies like Men in Black and Independence Day still remain as popular, his popularity has been on the decrease and has further reduced after his infamous slap last year at the Oscars.
Smith seems to have regained his status as a talented actor after King Richard, but his status as a huge money generating star has since then diminished, With movies like Bad Boys 4 in production, there is some hope the movie star might make a comeback but how far can he climb seems difficult to establish.
In the consistent changing landscape in Hollywood, it would be interesting to see how Smith navigates through the land of Hollywood.
Winter’s Tale is available on Amazon Prime.
Source: Variety
