How Much Money Was Will Smith Paid For Bright?

In March 2016, Will Smith was at a crossroads. Later on iii decades in testify business organisation, he was coming off the coldest streak of an otherwise stellar career. His previous three movies — Concussion, Focus and the much-maligned After Earth — had posted relatively anemic box office numbers, earning a collective $451 meg worldwide. Although the release of David Ayer's ensemble tentpole Suicide Squad was looming, Smith's side by side star vehicle would be the iii-hanky drama Collateral Beauty, which he was shooting in New York and would mark his worst opening ever.

Merely every bit things looked bleak (and with pressure building on CAA, his longtime bureau), Smith fabricated mayhap the riskiest move of his career, reteaming with Ayer for the big-budget human-orc (sort of) buddy comedy Bright. At Netflix no less. Though eyebrows were raised across boondocks, in hindsight, the option was bold. Sources say Smith pulled down a $27 1000000 upfront salary — double what Warner Bros. would have paid him for the bundle — while extending his global brand thanks to the streamer's reach into more 190 countries (at the time, Vivid held the distinction of Netflix'south biggest-always budget at $100 million). In doing then, Smith likewise paved the way for so-called "theatrical-just" A-list talent from Sandra Bullock to Martin Scorsese to brand movies for the streamer — and kept his $20 million quote intact.

What may take looked like a dicey move has been part of a savvy strategy to remake the 51-yr-old star's career for the digital historic period. During the by 2 years, Smith has reinvented his make via shrewd product picks and cheeky web videos, earning 122 million followers across platforms. And following the blockbuster success of Disney'south Aladdin — which shocked virtually everyone by taking in $i.05 billion globally — Smith now stands near the apex of Hollywood's star hierarchy. "If he's not the highest paid, he's tied for first," says one top amanuensis, placing him aslope Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr.

Perhaps every bit an insurance policy following his big-screen misfires, the rapper turned thespian is now poised to make the jump to mogul status with a series of savvy social media moves and investments, including the July launch of Westbrook Inc. A cantankerous-platform belongings visitor that the player oversees with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, Westbrook is designed to expand the Smith family brand beyond picture and Idiot box into new media, technology and fifty-fifty merchandising. In addition, Smith enjoys broad-ranging revenue streams that stretch well beyond his feature film wheelhouse — encompassing everything from a venture capital fund that was an early investor in Uber and now backs several tech startups, a German language rights-holding visitor, a Smith family-owned water brand and a digital studio that has become one of the nearly influential creators of shortform content. Meanwhile, he continues his day job and will face a major exam with the October. eleven opening of Gemini Man, the Ang Lee-helmed sci-fi thriller that uses special effects to create a younger version of Smith squaring off against his electric current cocky.

In short, Smith has quietly become 1 of the most diversified megastars in Hollywood.

"Everything he does, he does brilliantly," says Paramount primary Jim Gianopulos, who worked with Smith on 1996'south Independence Day and at present on Gemini Homo. "He is truly a multihyphenate, multitalented human for all seasons."

In fact, it's what Smith is doing equally a pic marketer that has studio execs most excited. Around the same time he signed on for Bright, Smith made another pivotal modify in his career trajectory. A source says he became intrigued by Dwayne Johnson's social media success and how it was translating into box office dollars. He pressed CAA to surround him with a team that could harness his unique voice and carefree sensibility. The following year, he joined social media — a latecomer to be sure — and has apace clustered 38.2 million followers on Instagram, 77 million on Facebook and 6.75 one thousand thousand on YouTube.

"He's been unbelievably methodical and committed to edifice a social presence," says Doug Belgrad, who collaborated with Smith on some of his biggest hits at Sony, including Hitch and the Men in Black franchise, and is producing his upcoming Bad Boys for Life with Jerry Bruckheimer. "He'due south really learned how to connect with the audience, and he'southward an astonishing partner to the studios when it comes to digitally promoting his movies."

Disney pic production chief Sean Bailey recalls that during a finish on Aladdin's world promotional tour in Amman, Jordan, he all of a sudden spotted a drone hovering overhead and became momentarily alarmed. "I didn't know what it was and [then realized] it was some of Volition's social," Bailey explains. "In fact, it was an incredible pull-abroad shot at some beautiful ruins. I just recollect it feels accurate and existent because it is. They're capturing Will very professionally and thoughtfully in very existent moments."

Smith'due south Aladdin efforts paid off. Sources say he received about $12.five meg upward front also every bit a strong backend cut that ultimately put him well to a higher place his quote. How much of Aladdin's box part success is the result of Smith's digital ubiquity — he now boasts twice every bit many almanac video views as the most followed person on Instagram, Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and logged 1.1 billion total watch fourth dimension minutes on YouTube — is hard to gauge. But a sizable clamper of Aladdin'due south online trailer views and social media impressions came from Smith'south posts; one source put his share in the 12 percent to twenty percent range. As a testament to his digital prowess and viral videos — think Smith taking a Thousand Canyon bungee plunge — Westbrook is now being hired by studios for promoting not-Smith projects.

"When we were coming into the release of [Aladdin], there were sure headwinds blowing in our face up. There was some cynicism and negativity around the moving-picture show, and this was not one where we, going into it, felt success was assured," adds Bailey. "Plainly, he's an incredible force multiplier. Annihilation he would put out of our materials certainly got significantly broader and wider pickup. And the movie pretty significantly outperformed its tracking."

Smith is putting plenty of his Hollywood dollars back into Westbrook while enlisting children Willow, 18, and Jaden, 21, in the effort (Jaden came up with the concept for the sustainably sourced and packaged Only H2o brand, and Willow is teamed with Jada on Cherry Tabular array Talk, which has become the virtually viewed series on Facebook Picket). Westbrook as well has a scattering of unnamed investors, with the ultimate goal of building an empire. Through his private investment vehicle, he and director Marc Forster acquired German rights group Telepool for some $40 1000000 in July 2018. The move gives Smith admission to German language funding, distribution and a cash-generating library, and is expected to exist a cardinal element of Westbrook's global expansion.

As for his other revenue streams, Smith'due south Dreamers venture capital fund is invested in dozens of tech startups including Sandbox VR, Flockjay and NuRx. And Just H2o is get-go to take off. Norwegian Prowl Line volition replace more than 6 million plastic water bottles with But cartons. Necks craned when Smith showed upwardly at Target's yearly convention in Minneapolis in September to back up the brand. Naturally, Westbrook created a sleek Simply Water video for Amazon Prime Day, which became the second-virtually-watched promotional content during the frame.

"It has definitely been a artistic rebirth for Will," says one Westbrook executive. "He comes to the office and loves to see the social content people are working on. It'due south the closest thing to performing onstage because of the firsthand feedback."

Still, Smith has ane foot firmly in the traditional picture and TV space. In addition to producing Smith-fronted film projects, Westbrook is developing a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air spinoff series (he even so earns hefty royalties from the 1990s NBC sitcom, now licensed to air in 193 territories). And every bit the digital enterprise begins to monetize, information technology continues to enhance his global box office footprint, allowing his agents to negotiate for fifty-fifty bigger paydays (he is earning $12.five million for Gemini Man and will land $20 one thousand thousand for playing the father of Serena and Venus Williams in Warner Bros.' King Richard).

In return, studios gain a tireless promoter, both on the ground and in the virtual world. In the run-up to Gemini Man'southward bow, Smith is doing what Smith does best: working the global audience with stunts like an unplanned 30-infinitesimal set of his greatest hits in forepart of a rabid Budapest audience and taking fans behind the greenscreen magic on Instagram. It's a skill he began to hone during his Fresh Prince days, when the series beginning became an unlikely overseas hit.

"He has the talent, the charisma and the connection to audiences that's unique to truly global movie stars," adds Gianopulos. "I've seen him in big crowds and I've seen him greet little kids and fans. It's e'er up shut and personal."

There's piffling incertitude that Netflix thinks Smith is worth it, noting in a shareholder letter that Bright "collection a notable lift in [subscribers]" and "has become i of our most viewed original titles ever." Afterwards King Richard, he is expected to shoot a Vivid sequel in summer 2020 (and receive a hefty salary bump).

"When you go into a moving-picture show that's expensive and yous're paying him a certain salary, what makes y'all experience skillful is you lot know that he is going to piece of work just as hard," says Netflix film primary Scott Stuber. "Nosotros can exercise a lot in the marketing, only there's no amount of TV spots you could purchase that can replicate the authenticity and the passion of the creative person saying to the globe, 'I believe in information technology.' And that's what he does really well."