Will Smith Drops Out Of Action Film ‘Sugar Bandits’

Will Smith has had to bow out of his upcoming movie Sugar Bandits. He ran into some scheduling conflicts that made him leave the action movie. According to Deadline, the film was just getting started with scouting locations.

This isn’t the first time a film has lost its star unexpectedly this month. Joaquin Phoenix also dropped out of Todd Haynes’ untitled gay romance drama just days before shooting was supposed to start, which has put that movie’s future in question. Sugar Bandits could face similar trouble, especially since it was sold to Amazon Prime Video and other distributors with the expectation that Smith would be the lead. Despite the drama from the slap he gave Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, Smith showed he’s still a big draw at the box office with Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which earned $400 million worldwide this summer.

On a brighter note, Will Smith is working on a new album. In an interview with the Instagram account Black Film Allies, Smith spilled the beans about his first music project since 2005’s Lost and Found. He hinted to Fandango in May that he had been working on this album for about a year and a half. Smith described it as “the most personal and powerful music project I’ve ever done” and said the theme is “Dance in your darkest moments.”

In a recent Instagram post, he mentioned that he’s just finished his album and shared a preview of his new song with Russ, “Work Of Art.”

It remains to be seen whether a new star of a similar profile can be found in time. As the search for a new lead begins, however, Smith and his Westbrook production company remain on board Sugar Bandits as producers.

As the hunt for a new lead for Sugar Bandits kicks off, Smith and his Westbrook production company are still involved as producers. Based on Chuck Hogan’s novel Devils in Exile, the film is set in Boston and follows a group of vigilantes led by an ex-Special Forces operative (previously played by Smith) who go after major drug traffickers, only to get tangled up with the DEA and some crazy hitmen. Italian director Stefano Sollima, known for Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Without Remorse, is set to direct.

It’s not clear what other projects Smith might have had conflicts with, but he’s got a couple of projects in the works like Fast and Loose and The Council, and a sequel to I Am Legend is being written by Akiva Goldsman. For now, Sugar Bandits is still searching for a new star.