| Gettin' Jiggy With It – A Look At The Box Office Powerhouse Of Will ... May 27th 2012, 08:24  Will Smith, up until the cinematic conundrum that was SEVEN POUNDS in 2008 (2009 in Aus), was the worlds most bankable star. And by that I mean, he could headline any film, any genre and it would perform at the box office. For Australia he has been the only African American actor to be able to headline a film with his name on it to a $10m+ domestic box office result since 2002′s MEN IN BLACK 2. He was actually so reliable that, outside of the uncredited bit part in JERSEY GIRL, everything he was in was box office gold. His peak came in 2008 when the two films he headlined that year both grossed over $20m+ domestically in I AM LEGEND and HANCOCK. That phenomenon was just specific to Australia – he was gold across the globe.
After SEVEN POUNDS flatlined worldwide, WS has been very quiet up until now with MIB 3. But that's all about to change with AFTER EARTH on the way, WINTER'S TALE, HANCOCK 2, BAD BOYS 3 and I, ROBOT 2 all in the pipeline. Yep the WILL SMITH franchise machine is back in full swing and you can expect to see a return to the top of the shop for him. Check out the Box Office that is WILL SMITH in AUSTRALIA! | Date | Film | Aus Box Office | | 10/06/1993 | Made In America | $13,546,848 | | 25/04/1995 | Bad Boys | $4,708,262 | | 31/08/1995 | Six Degrees Of Separation | $2,282,426 | | 02/07/1996 | Independence Day | $49,175,949 | | 10/09/1997 | Men In Black | $22,789,539 | | 07/01/1999 | Enemy Of The State | $8,185,019 | | 09/09/1999 | Wild Wild West | $6,619,506 | | 08/02/2001 | Legend Of Bagger Vance | $712,782 | | 21/02/2002 | Ali | $6,824,858 | | 03/07/2002 | Men In Black 2 | $17,619,149 | | 18/09/2003 | Bad Boys 2 | $10,611,317 | | 22/07/2004 | I, Robot | $12,684,908 | | 12/08/2004 | Jersey Girl | $1,479,291 | | 23/09/2004 | Shark Tale | $15,424,037 | | 03/03/2005 | Hitch | $14,212,994 | | 11/01/2007 | Pursuit of Happyness | $13,778,704 | | 03/01/2008 | I Am Legend | $23,199,299 | | 03/07/2008 | Hancock | $20,598,379 | | 08/01/2009 | Seven Pounds | $5,884,629 | | 24/05/2012 | Men In Black 3 | $13,000,000 | | | | | Total Aus Box Office | $263,337,896 | | Average Per Film | $13,166,895 | | Average As Headliner | $14,963,114 |
Boom! What an average! No other African American Actor can deliver those kind of numbers! EDDIE MURPHY – $10,087,376 DENZEL WASHINGTON – $4,834,829 MORGAN FREEMAN – $6,558,341 Figures sourced from rentrak, boxofficemojo and IMDB.  | |
