Will Smith Signs Paramount’s First-Look Contract

Paramount has agreed to a first-look arrangement with Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s production firm, Westbrook, to produce new motion pictures.

Variety reports that Will, 56, who has been mainly shut out of Hollywood since his notorious attack on Chris Rock on Oscar night, will now likely star in films created under the collaboration, while Jada, 53, will likely produce.

Paramount said in a statement announcing the deal that Westbrook will focus on “global, four-quadrant theatrical movies” with franchise potential, many of which are based on already-existing intellectual properties.

Sugar Bandits, a thriller based on Chuck Hogan’s Devils in Exile, and Rabbit Hole, a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, one of the credited screenwriters of the Dune movies, are two movies that Paramount has announced are already in development. 

Westbrook will have its headquarters on the Paramount property in Hollywood as part of the agreement.

The action follows Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance and the company’s ongoing aggressive expansion strategy. 

The acquisition of the rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship events in a seven-year, $7.7 billion contract and the transfer of Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer from Netflix are examples of recent agreements.

Westbrook has already created a number of well-known films. 

Despite the controversies surrounding him, Bad Boys: Ride or Die became a commercial hit in 2024, while Will starred in Emancipation in 2022. 

In 2021, Will won an Academy Award for finest actor for King Richard. 

He attacked comedian Chris Rock onstage during the Oscars ceremony after Chris made a joke about Jada’s buzzcut, which took center stage that evening.

Will eventually apologized for the incident in public on several occasions.

Candle Media, a business venture run by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, purchased a minority investment from Westbrook in 2022.

Several well-known people, such as Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Sonic the Hedgehog producer Neal H. Moritz, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, A Quiet Place director John Krasinski, and Ryan Reynolds, had already signed first-look deals with Paramount prior to the Skydance merger.

After playing a disobedient teenager in the popular sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will went on to become a worldwide movie star with box office hits including Men in Black, Independence Day, and Ali.