the Will Smith’s slap soap opera at the 2022 Oscars carry on and consequences of this gesture will still have an impact on the actor’s professional career. For now, there are many projects of his society of production to be paused, including this one which will cause a lot of ink to flow.
Oscars 2022: the slap with a bitter taste
We are not going to make the affront of presenting you in more detail the affair that has turned Hollywood around since the Oscars 2022, on March 28. A ceremony that would have been completely forgettable without the slap that Will Smith unleashed on the comedian and presenter of the event Chris Rock. Since, the reactions multiply on the internet and in the professional life of Will Smith, with on the one hand those who find that the actor was right to act in this way, and others who find the gesture intolerable. Whichever side you’re on, it won’t prevent the significant repercussions the actor suffers after this move. The latter accepts them willingly and takes full responsibility, by announcing for example his resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)of which he had been a member since 2001. Here is an excerpt from his statement, and you can find it in its entirety in our dedicated article here.
I resign from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any other consequences the board deems appropriate.. Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I will never again allow violence to take precedence over reason. […] I deprived the other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work.
According to the president of AMPAS, Will Smith faces expulsion from the Academy (and therefore from the Oscars) for at least ten years. But his resignation is not the only sanction that the actor will suffer. Indeed, Hollywood is a world full of sharks and the bashing is common. From many celebrity agents, Will Smith’s move will cost him and his production company dearly Westbrook Studio, slowing down for at least one or two years the number of films offered. This does not detract from the qualities of the actor, simply that he will no longer be considered an “all public” actor, meaning that many films that can be seen by children will no longer be offered to him. And it also works for the films in which he will be an actor for other companies, like Sony with one of the sagas that are part of Will Smith’s success: bad boys.
Will Smith: no sequel to this 2020 success?
Indeed, the third film of the saga Bad Boys: Bad Boys for Lifereleased in 2020 was a truly astonishing success, both its appreciation by critics and the public is mixed, receiving very average ratings. Yet for a budget of $90,000,000, it grossed over $450,000,000, thus becoming a huge box office success and one of the highest grossing films of 2020, when the world was in the midst of a pandemic and cinemas were barely opening their doors after a first wave. Given this unexpected success, it was therefore obvious that the film would receive a sequel. Badboys 4 was on the boards. Since 2020, the screenplay had been in preparation, and recently, Will Smith had even validated the first 20 pages of the latter out of the 40 in total.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, bad boy 4 is currently paused while the situation calms down and the academy presents the sanction of the actor. For the moment, it is difficult to have other information but Sony, which produces the film via its subsidiaries, has announced that it wants to speak in the coming month. It’s possible the movie will still happen, but without the actor featured which, let us remember, since the affair of The Suicide Squadcharges a high price for its services.
