Bad Boys: Ride or Die star Will Smith continues his Hollywood comeback from his post-Oscars slap on the back of the successful action-comedy sequel. A new report confirms the Oscar-winning actor has landed another major movie role following the latest Bad Boysinstallment.
Per Deadline, Smith will team up again with Sony Pictures for the upcoming sci-fi pic, Resistor, which is also being developed and produced by Escape Artists. The film is based on the 2014 Daniel Suarez novel, Influx, with Smith co-producing the project through his Westbrook Inc. imprint, while Zak Olkewicz and Eric Singer penning the screenplay.
Plot details for Resistor are unknown. However, Influx tells the story of physicist Jon Grady, who discovers a device capable of reflecting gravity and potentially revolutionizing physics. Despite this potentially history-making feat, Grady and his team find opposition from the Bureau of Technological Control, a covert operation adamant to suppress the truth and prevent the social upheaval the new device could cause. Grady refuses an offer to join the operation, throwing him into a haunting high-tech prison housing other doomed intellects. He then teams with his fellow prisoners to take on the BTC and usher humanity away from its artificial dark age.
Will Smith's Next Movie Has Been Revealed
Escape Artists creatives met with Smith after receiving the Resistor screenplay, believing he'd be an ideal lead for the project amid positive early projections for Ride or Die before its release earlier this month. Smith agreed to join Resistor shortly after Ride or Die's strong opening weekend at the box office. There is no director attached to Resistor, though behind-the-scenes discussions to land one will ramp up in the coming weeks.
Starring alongside long-time collaborator Martin Lawrence, Ride or Die sees Smith and his co-star's lawman characters battle crooked law enforcement officials in a twist-laden fourth installment of the acclaimed Bad Boys franchise. The film has made over $215 million at the global box office, taking the Bad Boys franchise tally past the $1 billion mark since its inception in 1995. Additionally, Ride or Die boasts a franchise-high audience score on Rotten Tomatoes while receiving solid critical reviews, with the Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-helmed flick being Smith's first major movie success since infamously slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.
Meanwhile, Smith is also set to star in the anticipated I Am Legend sequel alongside Creedand Black Panther franchise star, Michael B. Jordan. Smith recently insisted the follow-up film is "looking good" following recent meetings with Jordan, though there is no word on when production will begin.
Ride or Die is now showing in theaters across North America.
Source: Deadline
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