Not everyone is going to like a movie, not even those who have to make one, and sometimes an actor knows a dud when he sees one. Take Will Smith, for instance: a bankable star, he knows the nature of the beast and has to encourage people to see his latest vehicle that’s naturally an expensive blockbuster. Hollywood is in the moneymaking business, after all.
Smith stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon recently to promote the big-budget action sequel Bad Boys for Life. Discussing what motivated him to come back to the Michael Bay-spawned franchise after almost two full decades, Smith kept it real and conceded a fairly obvious truth – he doesn’t like everything he performs in and singled out his last Men In Black sequel.
Related: Will Smith’s Gemini Man Review: An Unfortunate Critical and Commercial Bomb
But he loves Bad Boys for Life and thinks everyone else will too, the actor explained:
“It’s fantastic. Y’all gonna love it. ‘Cause I say that a lot. I say that a lot. I’m gonna keep it real. Sometimes I say y’all gonna love it and y’all not gonna love it. Sometimes I’ve seen it and I know y’all not gonna love it, but it’s an expensive movie. But this time, this movie is out of here. It is so good, if you like the first two at all.”
Good or bad, objectively, the last couple releases starring Smith – other than Aladdin which boasts the best numbers of his career – either underperformed or fell below the radar. Gemini Man was a flop and earned a mixed reaction tending toward negative (not here with us but that’s another story).
Related: Rotten Tomatoes Score for Will Smith and Ang Lee’s Gemini Man Revealed
Smith is well off, but that doesn’t mean his money isn’t on his mind. Returning to a recognizable series with somewhat of a following from a prolific and well-known producer in Jerry Bruckheimer sounds like a decision motivated by monetary concerns, on paper.
However, Smith is firm he didn’t make the latest Bad Boys installment for money and he added the reason they waited so long to follow up was specifically to avoid “a cash grab” and revisit the characters in a place where they’ve hopefully grown.
Smith put it this way to Fallon:
“You had to take into consideration the time, had to take into consideration how the characters would have grown. And the reason it took so long is because I didn’t want to make it just as a cash grab. You know, ‘Hey, everybody loves sequels, let’s just do a sequel.’”
Related: Will Smith Performs “Prince Ali” in New Clip from Disney’s Aladdin
Bad Boys for Life is in theaters now. Smith also provides the voice for secret agent Lance Sterling in Spies in Disguise which is still playing too.
If you have any opinions on Will Smith’s honesty here or his movies, leave them below.