After 36 days in release, Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin has continued solidly enough to set a new box office high-water mark for Will Smith’s career. With more than $824 million dollars at the worldwide box office, it finally broke past his old record, set 23 years ago when Independence Day had run for 28 weeks for a worldwide cumulative total of $821 million.
Aladdin has continued strong, heading into its sixth week of release, looking to hold onto the number four position in the domestic box office over the pre-4th of July weekend. The Disney reboot’s domestic total is currently standing at $299.4 million. With a reported Friday total of $2.9 million at the American box office, the weekend should see easily see it move past the $300 million mark.
In appreciation of reaching his new personal record, Smith took a moment to record and share a thank you message to his fans around the world. He expressed how much it means to him, saying “thank you” in a myriad of languages while pacing excitedly around on a patio. Check out the video below:
Smith has had an uneven track record at the box office over the past decade, with only two films breaking the $100 million mark domestically. The two included 2012’s Men in Black 3, which brought in $179 million, and 2016’s Suicide Squad, which is only his second film to have passed the $300 million mark (it brought in $325 million). When Aladdin joins the $300 million club this weekend, he’ll have landed his third.
Smith delivered a strong performance as the Genie, which was no small feat given the lamp he had to fill in following up on Robin William’s iconic performance in the original animated version. Beginning with the M. Night Shyamalan written and directed After Earth, and its subsequent critical panning, much of the air seemed to have been pulled out of Smith’s box office capital, leaving only Suicide Squad to pass the $61 million domestic mark across his next five films. Even the critically acclaimed Concussion, for which Smith garnered several award nominations, including a Golden Globe, only brought in$35 million domestically.
With the box office continuing to contribute to Aladdin’s run and the critics lauding Smith’s performance, hopefully it will become an ongoing trend, with his next release only a few months away. October will see the release of Ang Lee’s Gemini Man, about an aging assassin trying to get out of the game, finding himself being hunted by a younger clone of himself.
More: Every Upcoming Will Smith Movie
Source: Will Smith