Will Smith's Karate Kid Ready for Remake
No (karate) kidding, Daniel-san: Nepotism is alive and well in Hollywood.
A year after Will Smith and his publicist shot down reports that the erstwhile Fresh Prince was working on a remake of Karate Kid starring son Jaden—"certainly not" was the official word—the project is now a go.
According to Variety, Columbia Pictures is waxing on for a remake of the 1984 classic, reworking it as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith, Will and Jada's 10-year-old progeny and his father's costar in The Pursuit of Happyness.
Hookup Alert! Smith & Spielberg Ready to Be Boys
Tom Cruise. Check. Tom Hanks. Check. Will Smith...
Steven Spielberg is about to shrink his A-list to-do list, with news that Mr. Blockbuster is ready to collaborate with Tinseltown's top director.
The superstars are in talks to team up for the thriller Oldboy, per Variety. Universal is remaking the acclaimed 2003 flick by Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park about a man who tries to figure out the mystery behind his abduction and 15-year captivity.
This would be the first collaboration for Spielberg and Smith, who have long expressed a desire to work together and, presumably, generate bucketloads of box office.
Meanwhile, Steve Carell and Keri Russell top the rest of the day's Casting Couch:
Will & Jada Get Tongues Wagging
When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, where there's a Will, there's a way.
Mr. Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, are so determined in this photo to express their infatuation for each other, they obviously don't have the patience to wait that one extra millisecond it would take for their lips to lock.
Granted, it's not as unsettling as, say, when Liza Minnelli sucked face with David what's-his-name, but it definitely got us thinking about other celebs who've managed to turn their PDA into LOL, like the ones in our Celebrity Makeout Mishaps gallery.
Burning Q's: Will vs. Blake & Dollars for Gaffers
Does A-lister refer strictly to movie stars, or can celebrities on hit TV shows also be included in the term?
—Jodi W.
Absolutely not. As I've reported in the past, the only true A-listers are movie stars who can, in old Hollywood parlance, "open" a picture. Will Smith is an A-lister. Blake Lively, despite that Vanity Fair cover that had her frolicking triumphantly in her underwear, is not. Onward, with more of your Burning Q's!
When will the Sex and the City DVD be released?
—Megan
Exclusive
Miley Cyrus Dance-off With Will Smith?
Miley Cyrus may find herself going head-to-head—and foot-to-foot—with Will Smith at Sunday's Teen Choice Awards.
Here's the deal:
Cyrus and her best buddy Mandy Jiroux (aka M&M Cru) have been engaged in a months-long YouTube dance-off with actor-dancer Adam Sevani (above) and his Step Up 2 director, Jon M. Chu (or ACDC). Sunday marks the final round of the fancy footwork battle.
"Will Smith is so cool," 15-year-old Sevani tells me today during a break from rehearsals. "I did the Kids Choice Awards with him, and he was just so cool. I wanted to use him for our [Teen Choice] performance, but I don't know if he's gonna be here."
Even without Mr. Jiggy, Sevani promises that the five-minute dance-off (each team has two and a half minutes to show their stuff) will be "history" in the making.
Why? Well, they've got a pretty good track record...
Smith, Depp, DiCaprio Shake Their Moneymakers
Here's some news Will Smith can take to the bank, along with those eight-figure paychecks: The Hancock star is the top-paid actor in Hollywood, according to the latest figures from the number crunchers over at Forbes.com.
Based on salaries earned between June 1, 2007, through June 1, 2008, Smith bested all competitors, male or female, raking in an estimated $80 million for his big-screen efforts.
His nearest moneymaking rival is Johnny Depp, whose pirate's booty totaled $72 million.
Not bad for a year's work.
Hellboy, Hancock Hot; Meet Dave Not
Hellboy had a good weekend. Will Smith had an impressive one. Brendan Fraser had an okay one. Eddie Murphy didn't. Have any of the above.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army topped the Friday-Sunday box office with $35.9 million, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
In its second weekend, Smith's Hancock slipped to No. 2, but definitively proved its bad reviews were no match for its star's appeal and moviegoers' taste. The superhero tale grossed another $33 million, and scored the modern box office's ultimate compliment—ticket sales fell less than 50 percent.
Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth, a 3-D remake of the classic Jules Verne adventure, opened in third, with $20.6 million.
Murphy's Meet Dave, meanwhile, looked like it was in for a brief, unpleasant run.
Will Smith's Superpowers Still Work, Hancock Scores
Will Smith did Hancock a solid.
Smith has star-powered the poorly reviewed superhero hybrid to a $66 million opening weekend, and a No. 1 finish, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
WALL-E, last weekend's champ, stayed strong, grossing another $33.4 million, but finished a distant second.
Hancock goes down as Smith's seventh straight movie to open No. 1. If you count Shark Tale, the 2004 animated comedy, as a Smith movie, his streak stands at eight straight.
Overall, Hancock has grossed $107.3 million since "previewing" on Tuesday night and "opening" on Wednesday.
Beat Ben @ the Box Office: Big Willie Weekend
It's that time of year: Will Smith season. And the the King of July 4th has another smash hit on his hands with Hancock, costarring Oscar winner Charlize Theron and funnyman Jason Bateman. This is the only major release at the box office over the holiday weekend, and every studio clears a path because, no doubt about it, he's the No. 1 movie star in the world.
In a summer of superheroes, you also have to admire actor-turned-director Peter Berg for bringing us an entirely new character, who doesn't have to cater to both fanboys and mass audiences, or worry about staying true to the source material.
So look for Hancock to bank $127 million over the five-day weekend. Smith goes all-out, and the guy even performed a 45-minute set at his own premiere. (I got a little emotional when he introduced DJ Jazzy Jeff and did "Summertime.")
Don't think Hancock can save the day at the box office this weekend? Then drop your numbers in the comments!
Will Smith Save The Last Action Hancock?
The reviews aren't great. The genre's iffy. Will Smith's the star.
As far as box-office business goes, everything should be fine.
Big things were expected, per usual, of Smith, and his less-than-usual latest, Hancock, opening Wednesday.
"I think it's going to be another Will Smith gigantic opening weekend," says box-office expert Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers.
Dergarabedian predicted Hancock could make $75-$80 million from Friday-Sunday, and expected the film to clear $100 million, easy, over its first five days, from Wednesday-Sunday. An opening of that size would lift Hancock, the tale of an unconventional superhero, right into the airpspace of Iron Man.
Will Smith's Cursive Combat with Cruise
They say the pen is mightier than the sword.
And in Hollywood, sometimes a Sharpie can be more important than the box office—at least when it comes to Will Smith and his pal Tom Cruise.
The Hancock star tells USA Today about the friendly stars' long-standing rivalry about who spends the most time signing his, well, John Hancock.
"It's hard to beat that dude," says Smith. "He has another gear. He did 2½ hours in France for Mission: Impossible on the red carpet. Now when I go to France, people will say, 'You know, Tom was out here for 2½ hours.' "
Despite such competitiveness between the Tinseltown titans, Smith is still protective of his friend...
Burning Q's: Budget Stars & the Vanishing Charlize
With the economy hurting us average folks, are celebrities suffering, too? What kind of cutbacks are people in Hollywood making, if any?
—Mo
Fear not for Will Smith. He stands little chance of losing his Big Willie lifestyle. The giant undulating superpool, nestled deep inside his sprawling megacompound off the Mulholland Raceway, will still sparkle. And the one tennis court will remain as spotlessly maintained as the second tennis court right next to it.
But the Industry is also getting mighty sick of $20 million salaries for stars who, in the end, may not attract the crowds. Here's how they're trimming fat...

















