It's been a rough year for Will Smith as the former box office champ doesn't have the pull he once did. Last year's After Earth bombed quite publicly, and his hysterical appearances in the equally-disastrous Winter's Tale didn't do much to help. That didn't stop him from turning down an Independence Day sequel, and perhaps he did it because something else of a similar genre was on the table.
Smith is circling a lead role in Brilliance, a sci-fi film based on the trilogy of novels by Marcus Sakey. Julius Onah (The Girl is in Trouble) is directing from a David Koepp script, and it sounds a lot like the X-men, or maybe Brian Michael Bendis' comic, Powers. Here's the book synopsis:
In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.
The second book in the series will be published soon, and this is clearly being eyed as a potential franchise for Smith, his first since Men in Black wrapped up.
Before that, we'll see Smith back in theaters next year, and nope it won't be during the thick of summer. Told you times were rough. His con-man film, Focus, has been set for February 27th 2015. A winter date for a Will Smith movie? Is that a bad sign or what? Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, with Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) co-starring, it stars Smith as a con artist whose romantic relationship with a young upstart comes back to haunt him years later. [TheWrap]
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