It’s been almost a year since Will Smith slapped three jokes out of Chris Rock’s head and a few days since Rock’s Netflix special where he was able to take the time to talk about the incident at last year’s Oscar ceremony. The incident occurred after Rock joked about Smith’s wife’s hair, calling her G. I. Jane. Since this time, Will Smith has been on a comeback attempt.
Will Smith initially laughed at the joke, but it didn’t take too much time for all of that to change and Smith walked on the stage to slap Rock and returned to his seat. After Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams in the film King Richard, it was later announced that he was banned from the Oscars for one decade after assaulting Chris Rock.
Will Smith’s Attempts at a Comeback
Smith has kept a low profile and is now seeking a comeback after that major setback that scathed his career. Smith is looking to reestablish his career by shooting Sony’s Bad Boys 4, and he has also been tapped to star in Netflix’s Fast and Loose. Both movies are also intended to be shot back-to-back, according to Variety.
Smith’s last film Emancipation premiered on Apple TV but performed poorly at the box office, becoming a bomb against its $120 million budget. That also goes for King Richard, which only grossed $39.4 million on a budget of $50 million.
Nevertheless, Smith is still one of the highest-paid actors working in Hollywood today. He has earned $35-40 million from each of his films, King Richard and Emancipation.
Smith has accrued a phenomenal filmography from the 1990s until the present day and has been nominated for Oscars in the films Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness, and finally winning for King Richard. With all that being said, it seems hard to believe that Hollywood would be so willing to drop him, even over this incident, as he has proven to be a box-office draw.