“He needs to keep box-office success alive, and he should bounce back going forward,” says one insider
Will Smith is hoping to make a big-screen comeback with one of his most bankable franchises.
The actor, 55, reprises his role as Miami detective Mike Lowrey in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in the action-comedy series that began with the 1995 original, opposite Martin Lawrence.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die comes over two years after Smith’s Oscars incident — when he hit Chris Rock onstage during the award ceremony in front of millions of viewers — and will test his box office power post-scandal.
“Bad Boys is not a risk,” a film industry source tells PEOPLE. “It’s a good piece to see him soar. A talent as ambitious and financially successful as Will does not go away with one mistake.”
“He needs to keep box-office success alive,” adds the source.
Another source from the entertainment world agrees that if Bad Boys: Ride or Die “does well” then Smith “should be back on top and looking good for other films he is involved with and working on.” At least one of those in-the-works projects is an I Am Legend sequel with Michael B. Jordan.
A friend of Smith says the movie star is “ready for more of an impact with his work after laying low” after the Oscars incident.
“He will always be a private guy in his personal life, but loves the attention on the big screen,” says the insider. “He is hoping for box-office magic with this film and a bright future with all he has going.”
