What next for the biggest movie star on the planet?

large_ent_will-smithWill Smith has taken a year off to spend some time with the family, to help his son realise his dream of playing The Karate Kid on the big screen, to regroup and re-valuate his career whilst every big movie he has previously starred in is being offered to him for a reprisal. A big paycheck gig. Just this week we've heard of Columbia hiring a guy to write Bad Boys 3 with the hope it will entice Smith to come back to that franchise, and it's become a regular thing with Smith's past tentpoles recently. The more time Smith takes off without filling his future schedule, the more studios are desperate to find that pitch that will entice him to commit. Every studio wants Smith, because he's mega bucks. I'm gonna link to all the articles for proof (see after the jump) but Hollywood are currently writing the following, all without a firm commitment from Smith. Which do you wanna see him make? a Bad Boys 3 (announced this week) a Hancock 2 (which will delve further into the 3,000 year old relationship between the two Gods played by Will Smith and Charlize Theron, who tragically are never able to be with one another but keep being drawn by this force and pull to keep ending up back together). a Men in Black 3 (set to be released in 2011, apparently) aI Am Legend 2(which bizarrely could be a sequel, where Warner Bros. simply don't address the fact he killed himself in the original film). a I, Robot 2 (which back in 2007, was talked about as being a big budget movie) remakes... Harvey remake, which Steven Spielberg is eying Will Smith for now that Tom Hanks turned him down. Oldboy remake with Steven Spielberg, currently being scripted by the writer of I Am Legend. projects which the directors have clearly stated they want Smith to star in their picture... Earth vs. Moon (a hardcore, 300-style movie with some comic relief to it, but about the Earth and a colony on the moon essentially in a civil war, which could cost Universal $200 million to make. The studio might only budge if screenwriters Paul Wenick and Rhett Reese can get their man, Will Smith for this). 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (McG's adaptation of the classic Jules Verne tale which back in January, he boldly claimed he wanted Will Smith to star). But there is one shining light at the end of the tunnel. Only a week short of a year ago, Will Smith hired Braveheart writer Randall Wallace to write a movie about Taharqa, the pharaoh who battled Assyrian invaders in ancient Egypt around 677 B.C. The movie is titled The Last Pharoah and it€™s setup at Columbia with Smith€™s Overbrook Entertainment producing. Although we haven't heard anything on the movie since, it's the one original project he has in the works. We're hoping that's the one he chooses, if anything. What do you wanna see him make next out of the projects currently being written for him?
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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.