Will Smith's live televised assault on comedian Chris Rock was always going to affect the award-winning actor's career and it appears that studios are lining up to run away from the King Richard star.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, an unnamed source just revealed that Sony has pressed "pause" on the development of Bad Boys 4. In addition, Netflix has also stepped away from working with Smith, dropping its plans for Fast and Loose, a movie that would have starred Smith as an amnesiac crime boss who is living a double life as a CIA agent.
In addition to the films that we've mentioned, the same report claims that the status of several films starring The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor currently in pre-production is in limbo.
The fallout from Smith's embarrassing moment is not going to stop anytime soon. It's easy to understand why studios aren't too interested to work with Smith if only temporarily. No studio wants to spend millions of dollars only to waste its investment in an actor who audiences might never want to see on-screen again. The risk-reward ratio is too high even if Smith stars in otherwise safe and sure-fire hit movies like the now-paused Bad Boys 4.