Due to theaters worldwide being on lockdown and release dates being pushed back, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s triumphant return in Bad Boys For Life is still the highest-grossing movie of 2020, with a total box office gross of $419 million. The movie marks a return to form for Smith, who at the previous height of his movie career was breaking a number of box office records.
Will Smith’s movie career was so strong in the 1990s and 2000s that there’s one record where he remains unbeaten: the most consecutive $100 million+ hits at the U.S. box office. Smith holds the record of eight, consisting of Men in Black 2, Bad Boys II, I, Robot, Shark Tale, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend and Hancock. 2008’s Seven Pounds broke the winning streak, marking the beginning of a downturn for Smith that included movies like After Earth and Focus.
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Bad Boys For Life broke another record for Smith, becoming Sony Pictures’ highest-grossing R-rated movie to date, as well as the biggest opening weekend for any movie released in January and the highest lifetime gross for any January movie. I Am Legend broke similar box office records for December upon its release in 2007, but was bumped to second place by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012 and is currently down in fifth place due to Disney choosing to release its Star Wars sequel trilogy in December. Due to inflation, it can be difficult for any movie to hold on to a box office record for too long.
One of Smith’s more recent leading roles was in Aladdin, where he played a live-action version of the Genie. Aladdin is his highest-grossing movie to date, both domestically and internationally, topping a record that had only recently been set by 2016’s Suicide Squad. Despite being slammed by critics, Suicide Squad itself set a number of other box office records upon its release – including the highest-grossing August debut, a record that it continues to hold.
So, where does Will Smith rank among the biggest leading stars of all time? Technically he’s ranked at #13, just ahead of Mark Ruffalo and just behind Eddie Murphy. However, that list has become somewhat skewed by the mammoth success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the past decade (seven of the top 10 highest-ranked stars are from MCU movies, where the franchise itself is arguably the biggest draw). In terms of actors who hold significant box office appeal in their own right, and who have launched multiple major movie franchises, Smith remains one of the all-time greats.
