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I happened to come across Hancock, and when I scrolled down to the box office gross, I noticed it made 600 MILLION.
Ok, I know it has Will Smith as the lead role but that’s not enough power for the movie to make this much. It also garnered mixed reviews.
So the question is, how did Hancock make so much?
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Will Smith at the time was a major box-office draw. Major. It was also a super hero movie that was supposedly different.
Before superheros were overexposed too, came out before most of the MCU
it was more of a traditional action flick, like superhero movies were treated as once
The only difference between those two things are the story tropes of superheros. Hancock was an early twist on superheros in movies but superhero movies were very large already at that point, just not overexposed yet, which I would say happened with the DC vs MCU stuff of the 10s.
I mean at that point there had been like 4 or so XMen, 4 superman movies, 3 Spidey movies, 2 fantastic four movies, 6 batman movies, I could keep going but my point is that the public at that time already separated the 2, it just wasn't at the point where every other movie is a super. I still remember the marketing and stuff, it was very clearly a dark superhero movie.
I never understood why they never attempted a franchise. Hancock (original SH) made more than some early Marvel (Captain America, Thor, 2 Hulk movies). Smith was indeed the biggest star in the world.
From what I heard Smith was asking too much for the sequel
and big studio couldn't pay him. It's funny. Sometimes they give someone 80M to come back to a franchise that mostly sells itself, sometimes refuse lesser demand to a star that opened an original IP as if it was a famous brand.
From Sony? Where you hear that?
From out their ass lol. His next several movies were at Sony, and didn't work at another studio until 2014 (in a minor support role). The reason it didn't get a sequel is that it barely did better than I am Legend (less than ten points) and they had MIB III on their docket.
Because the ending was so trash
Many movies with trahs ending get a sequel so I think that Smith's asking too much money was the real reason.
Reasons you dislike something are typically not reasons sequels don't get made unless the movie gets critically panned over it.
True! Same opinion about a standalone DC movie on Killshot.
I bought it and frequently play just the first scene, it’s so damn funny
“Your head is going up his ass, your head is going up his ass, and you, well, you drew the short straw because your head is going up my ass”
Correct. back then he could take any kind of movie to big number. Pursuit of Happiness had insane run, Rom com like Hitch, zombie movie like I am legend and then really crappy SH movie Hancock. He was the biggest BO draw back then for sure.
You think the rock came in and stole his thunder? The movies The rock got I could of seen a buff will doing. Will also slimmed down a lot since then.
Nah. Rock plays Rock in everything and it works bc he picks the right projects.
Same could be said of will smith around this era, but where the Rock is a big lovable everyman with a “smolder”, Will Smith in everything was a MOVIE STAR. He put out shit like Hitch and they just printed money
Rock is a poor man's Arnold Schwarzenegger
Very, very fair.
Okay Smith was a huge star but Dwayne has surpassed him completely. Even with a ten year head start Rock has 17 movies at 300 million (Smith at 13) and 7 at 700 million (Smith at 3). Smith only has three hits over the last decade.
Are you adjusting for inflation? Will Smith definitely had a larger cultural presence than Dwayne Johnson at his peak.
Four if you count his hit on the Oscars stage last year.
Surpassed? Until the rock has anything even near Ali, Pursuit of Happyness or heck, a movie where he swears and it doesn’t sound hack im giving the nod to Will.
I mean will smith can actually act. He isn’t always AY BABY IM RECKLESS LOL, and even in those roles like Bad Boys he has an emotional gravity the Rock would give 100lbs of muscle to use in one movie.
I feel like he was on a hot streak of movies that weren’t perfect but people loved anyways like I, Robot and I Am Legend and then Hancock. All made about the same at the box office.
People just loved Will Smith probably more than anyone. He was just a guy with no baggage and just knew what audiences would like.
Everybody's dealing with issues and everybody is hiding them as well, some hide it better than others.
And in the vein of "never meet your heroes" it turns out he's got a ton of baggage, a wife with a hideous personality, and has raised narcissistic and untalented nepo babies.
He couldn't open a 5 Guys franchise these days, let along carry a blockbuster.
bad boys in 2020 of 400 million, it is still attractive at the box office
That was pre slap, but I wonder if the slap even affects general audiences at all really
probably not for something like Bad Boys, but maybe a Disney flick like Aladdin
I feel like the slap is just a nothing burger.
King Richard sucked. It was a make up Oscar. Emancipation sucked. He hasn’t made a good movie in a long time.
Last one was bad boys. Three years ago.
That was also pre-pandemic, which is weird to think about. Wasn’t it the highest grossing film of 2020 lol
Last movie we saw before theaters closed down.
I don't mind willows newer stuff
Willow is the more talented out of the three kids.
Can’t blame him for the shitty behaviour of his wife though, he seemed like a victim more than anything else
Will isn’t a victim of anything. People make it seem like Jada is holding him prisoner. They love each other in what ever messy way that means. I feel like a lot of people idolized Will but didn’t bother to read his autobiography. All the stuff, including the slap, makes a lot of sense for people that read his book.
i still love I am legend
Right? It’s just so enjoyable.
i remember the movie scaring me as kid but now that i’m older it’s so good
My son, let me tell you about the box office juggernaut Will Smith was at one time….
Now, this is a story all about how My life got flipped-turned upside down
Its hard for me to believe that there are people who weren't alive during the box office dominance days of WIll Smith, Tom Cruise, Brad PItt, the likes...
My definition for someone too young to take seriously is if they were born after independence Day the movie
For me it’s 9/11
Biggest movie star in the world at that particular moment paired with an easily marketable and enticing premise. Smith was already on a 7-film streak that had passed $100m domestic and he was coming hot off the biggest hit of his career since Independence Day (I Am Legend) which Hancock then went on to beat itself.
This was also back when original comedies could still severely break-out at the box office. It would more likely than not be a direct to streaming release now and even if it did go to theatres it probably would struggle to even pass $200m WW. Its a performance emblematic of a very different era.
The "guy with super powers that isn't a hero OR a villain but rather selfish" hadn't really been done at that point. The Boys has taken that premise to it's logical and gross conclusion.
The Boys hasn't taken that premise to its logical and gross conclusion because The Boys features supervillains pretending to be superheroes.
Now, could you make something about a "superhero" who is completely selfish without making them seem like a supervillain in disguise? Yes, but that's not what The Boys is about. The Boys is mostly about "what if the Justice League were rapists?" which crosses the line from "the problem with this character is that they're selfish" to "this is a supervillain with good publicity". Maybe Maeve counts as "selfish and weak but not a supervillain" but she's a side character.
This isn't really accurate.
They're more superheros who are controlled by corporations, similar to pro-atheletes or scientologists.
Yeah, they're shit people, but calling them supervillains is giving them too much credit. most times, they barely have their own thought or ideas, they're just followers of thier overlords.
Doing your own thing does not define what a supervillain is. Gorgon (a Wolverine bad guy) is a supervillain. Basically doesn't do his own thing, at all. Toad has, very occasionally, struck out on his own, but he's most famous for not doing his own thing. The Marauders are just Sinister's lackeys, but they're still supervillains.
Have you watched Season 3? Not to spoil it, but I wouldn't say that.
That was Hancock before Will Smith come along and demanded changes to the script. And this isn't the only movie where he did that. Good for Tarantino for not listen to his "advice".
Fun fact: Jim Carrey told Zemeckis he wouldn't play Scrooge unless Scrooge learnt to become a better person. Oh, and Bill Murray briefly quit Groundhog Day before the studio told Ramis that becoming a better person would be how Phil escapes the time loop was Murray's ultimatum... either the script was changed, or he wouldn't come back.
What on Earth do you imagine Hancock was going to be other than yet another "selfish arsehole/idiot learns to become a better person" story?
I mean, r/movies just says the wildest shit about Hancock,1 so why not r/boxoffice, too? Hancock was rewritten, but it looks like it was rewritten to change it from a "suicidal alcoholic superhero who encounters a kid" (which would probably have ended with one of them dead but if it didn't it would've been a "I have a reason to live now film") to "a selfish, drunk arsehole who is a superhero".
1Its favourite story is that Tonight, He Comes (the suicidal drunk superhero film) was merged with an unrelated script to become Hancock. That is just not true and it does not read like it was true.
Will smith was a very big draw at his peak, bigger than Tom Cruise in 2000s. If only will smith didn't try so hard to be a part of social media, he would have been a Tom Cruise level box office draw. Tom learnt his lesson from the mid 2000s public Scientology arc.
Will Smith is/was going for the “media empire” instead of the “box office draw”. Different lanes, IMO.
He'll still be back I feel, but will take a lot of image rehab, probably will look much better if he separates from Jada
It’ll take some time though for him to get back at the top…will have to stop doing drama roles for a bit and do over the top comedy or raunchy stuff I feel
Yep, Bad Boys 4 can't come soon enough for him
Honestly I think he’s done lol, he’s had plenty of hits but the types of movies that he’s usually in aren’t big anymore
If Tom can come back from Scientology-jumping-on-the-couch...
If Shyamalan can come back from his string of truly awful movies...
Will Smith can definitely make a comeback.
Will Smith was past his prime in the 2010s, his buzz died down but was still A list but wasn’t a box office juggernaut like the 90s/2000s.
eh idk, Suicide Squad and Aladdin, as shitty as they were, both made a ton at the box office, and the Bad Boys sequel also did pretty well, he did about as well as a lot of stars from back then
The difference is those would be hits without Smith.
no? Suicide Squad got a lot of attention with him being in the lead role along with Margot Robbie as Harley.
Oh and how did the SS movie without Will Smith do? Also Bad Boys still made bank in 2020 as well.
idk a lot of marketing involved him as the lead in both those films
Sure I’ll pile on if only to help make the point: yea Will Smith really was that big back then plus the trailers made him look like an alcoholic superhero and he had a more squeaky clean image both personally and in the characters he played so the whole thing seemed like a wild concept.
Personally I thought something about that seemed a little cash grabby and skipped it in theaters. It’s ok
I can only speak for myself but I actually saw it opening weekend lol. Loved it too. But at the time I was 17 with much lower standards and I saw most movies in theaters.
At the time it seemed like a really fun inversion of a lot of superhero themes. Iron Man and The Dark Knight had just come out and there was definitely a “newness” around the genre.
I agree that standards were lower. And people tend to forget, but the 90’s and early 00’s had a pretty hard aversion to anything colorful - superhero movies had to be dark and gritty to be taken seriously, while the script and subject matter could essentially be brain dead. No jokes, no winking to the audience, absolutely nothing clever - just infinite seriousness for the sake of it. So a drunk superhero was indeed an interesting concept at the time. Of course Iron Man came along and turned it upside down.
Iron Man 1 still has more sincerity to it than the rest of the MCU
Hancock came out before The Dark Knight poser.
Lol fair enough. Its been 15 years cut me a break
Naw
Will smith WAS that powerful. What are you basing his star power on?
Will Smith used to be larger than life and just exuded charisma that came through the screen. Now he's a shell of his former self. This is what happens to people after years of mental and emotional abuse from a narcissist. I've seen it happen within my own family.
Will Smith has had his ups and downs, if the movie is based on IP it’s still successful like Aladdin, Bad Boys for Life and Suicide Squad. It’s the dramatic roles that have been flopping and Gemini Man was a tech demo without a decent script. If he sticks with what worked for him the past then he’ll be fine. I feel like Bad Boys 4 could be his big comeback
He poisoned his own PR. It will take years to get to a level even remotely close to where he was even a few years ago.
People loved Will because he was Will Smith. Kinda how Keanu is right now. If Keanu tanked his reputation then you would be hard pressed to see another of his movies make as much as Wick is doing for him now.
Will has a lot of work to do to fix his reputation. Ezra Miller showed the world (recently at least) that some people can be so put off by a person they will just not watch the movie.
The unfortunate thing is, that Will is never going to live that slap down. He will have to practically build his reputation from the start (especially after that Fresh Prince remake he directed 🤦♂️).
It could be done. He'd have to dump Jada completely and work something out with Rock and then put the work in. People are quite forgiving if you are genuine and weren't doing unforgivable things like raping young boys (Spacey), pay-for-play sexual coercion (Weinstein) or trying to eat your dates (Armie Hammer).
People don’t care about that slap Lmao
From Big Willie Style to Lil Willie Sad.
Will Smith was a big time box office draw and it was coming out at a time when we weren't as bombarded with superhero films, so there was room for an original that had a somewhat unique concept
Will Smith
*Will Smith AND Charlize Theron
Omg i forget she was in Hancock !
AND Jason Bateman /s
I'd also add the trailer looked great. It mostly had scenes from earlier in the movie.
It didn't show any of the second half that was far poorer.
Will Smith was the biggest star in the world.
All evidence to the contrary.
Still during the mid-2000s a giant name could asses into seats. This isn’t so much the case anymore, but back then if you put a giant movie star into a blockbuster looking movie then you could make bank. Also the marketing campaign was unbelievable for that movie.
Looked like fun based on trailers
Will is gonna lose all those prestigious voiceover gigs that James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman used to do just because of his big ego and petulant behavior.
Don’t underestimate Will Smith’s box office draw during this period. Before After Earth, he was scorching hot in the box office
At one time it absolutely was.
Because he shoved that guy’s head up that guy’s ass.
you need to remember, 2008 was a different time, The MCU hadnt come out yet. The Star Wars ST wasnt even rumored. The current era of franchise, IP heavy hits being the only big thing making money hadnt arrived yet.
anyways