Audiences haven’t turned their backs on Will Smith, who just made a strong comeback with Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which grossed over $220 million in its first two weeks, and now he’s joining Sony Pictures in another high-profile sci-fi thriller.
The news was revealed by Deadline on June 18, which also noted that the project is currently titled Resistor and is based on the book Influx by Daniel Suarez.
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The 2014 novel is a science fiction thriller that “tells the story of physicist Jon Grady and his team who discover a device that reflects gravity—a triumph that will revolutionize the field of physics and change the future.” The problem is that “a secret organization called the Bureau of Technological Control” shows up, seals off the lab, confiscates the device, and throws Grady into “a nightmarish, high-tech prison.” The goal of Grady and the other inmates is not only to escape, but to uncover the truth about the hidden enemy that has been preventing humanity from achieving technological advancement.
Deadline also confirmed that production company Escape Artists had been “developing the project for some time” before getting a script that got executives excited and offering Smith the chance to star in the film. Of course, the deal came together shortly after Bad Boys 4 became a box office hit.
Smith has always had a soft spot for science fiction, with his most notable work including blockbusters like Independence Day, I, Robot, and 2019’s ill-fated Gemini Man. Now, he’s attached to produce I Am Legend 2, a film that plans to bring Smith’s character back from the dead (sort of) based on the original film’s (much better) alternate ending.
