February 18, 2024
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Will Smith will play an Iraq War veteran in the upcoming thriller 'Sugar Bandits.'
Will Smith will play a veteran-turned-vigilante in the upcoming action thriller "Sugar Bandits."
The film, based on the 2010 Chuck Hogan novel "Devils in Exile," follows a group of Iraq War veterans who team up to take down the drug trade in Boston, Variety reported. Hogan — who also wrote the novel "Prince of Thieves" and its star-studded 2010 film adaptation "The Town" — wrote the screenplay for "Sugar Bandits" as well. The director has not yet been announced.
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"Sugar Bandits" was first announced back in 2013, with Universal developing the feature, but it is now hitting the independent marketplace. The film's worldwide distribution rights will be introduced to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin, which began Thursday and runs through Feb. 21. There, the film could fetch somewhere in the $80 million range, according to Deadline.
Later this year, Smith is also set to return to the "Bad Boys" franchise, a series of buddy-cop action films starring Smith and Martin Lawrence as detectives in the Miami Police Department. The untitled fourth "Bad Boys" flick is currently in post-production, and is scheduled to premiere in June.
Smith and Lawrence recently attended North Philly-native comedian Kevin Hart's tour stop in Atlanta, where they were previously spotted filming "Bad Boys 4."
Smith is also reportedly going to star in and produce a sequel to his 2007 post-apocalyptic film "I Am Legend" alongside "Creed" actor Michael B. Jordan. Most details have been kept under wraps, but the sequel will apparently follow the original film's alternate ending in which Smith's character survives, according to Variety.
These upcoming projects will mark a return to the big screen for West Philly-native Smith, whose only major feature since the now-infamous Oscars slap was the 2022 Apple TV+ film "Emancipation." Smith has been delving into other forms of media in the meantime. Last summer, Smith made his first video game appearance as a post-apocalyptic guide in the game "Undawn." He also launched the hip-hop-focused "Class of 88" podcast in October.
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