Will Smith Most Powerful Actor On The Planet

NEWSWEEK magazine's senior writer Sean Smith reports on the success of Will Smith the most powerful actor on the planet. With a worldwide career box office of $4.4 billion, Will Smith has now eclipsed Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise to become the most powerful actor in Hollywood, followed by Johnny Depp and Ben Stiller.

NEWSWEEK's power rankings are guided—through interviews with studio heads, agents and producers. The choice for the No. 1 spot was unanimous.

An actor's power is determined primarily by opening-weekend grosses and one industry insider says Smith is "the only thing" that represents a guaranteed opening weekend. Smith is bankable in every genre: sci-fi, action-comedy, romantic-comedy or drama. It was "The Pursuit of Happyness," a downbeat film that grossed an astounding $298 million worldwide, that opened the industry's eyes to Smith's reach.

At 38, Smith's worldwide box office is more than Adam Sandler's and Will Ferrell's combined. Almost every movie he's made since "Independence Day" (total gross: $817 million) has been a global blockbuster.

"People don't understand what a struggle it was," says his business partner, James Lassiter. (Smith declined to comment.) "There has always been an obstacle. It's either 'African-Americans don't sell around the world' or 'African-Americans can't have successful romantic comedies' or 'Will is not strong in drama.' It wasn't until recently that people finally looked at his numbers and went, 'Wow'."

Read the Newsweek Article.

Tags: Feature, Film, Will Smith

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