There was a time, not very long ago, when you could pick out what the best sci-fi movies in theaters were based on whether or not they starred Will Smith. For years, the Grammy Award-winning rap artist-turned-Academy Award-winning actor ruled the box office as the Earth’s savior against aliens, robots, nocturnal mutants, and other bizarre phenomena in blockbusters that are now considered some of the best Will Smith movies. Now, the movie star is set to return to the genre and take on a new kind of enemy for Resistor.
Coming from Sony Pictures and Escape Artists, Resistor will be the actor’s first live-action sci-fi film since 2019’s Gemini Man, in which he, literally, faced off against himself — or, more accurately, a clone roughly half his age. So, what sort of otherworldly action is he in for this time, who is at the helm, and when will it come out? There is actually only so much information we can provide about this upcoming Will Smith movie at the moment, but we will be sure to spill it all for you in our following guide.
What Is The Resistor Release Date?
Having only been announced as early as June 2024, Resistor has no release date to report, but we can probably infer that it will not land a spot on our upcoming 2024 movies schedule any time soon. Appearing on our upcoming 2025 movies schedule is a bit more likely, but as you will be able to see from the further information (and lack thereof) below, the film does still have some details to work out before its theatrical release date can be determine. We will just have to wait and see!
Will Smith Is Confirmed To Star In Resistor
The news that Resistor was in the works came from an exclusive report by Deadline from June 2024, saying that Will Smith was set to lead the film. The news would follow the success of the fourth installment of the Bad Boys movies franchise, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which has earned a global box office gross of more than $200 million — according to Box Office Mojo — for Sony Pictures, which will also produce this new film in association with Escape Artists, as previously mentioned.
In addition to being Smith’s next collaboration with Sony, Resistor will be the latest of many science-fiction films on his resume, which include his leading man breakthrough in the 1996 alien invasion movie classic, Independence Day, further extra-terrestrial battles of a more humorous variety in the first three Men in Black movies, and the more earnest and noirish futuristic thriller, I, Robot from 2004. He later became (seemingly) the last human on an Earth overrun with dark-seeking zombies in 2007’s I Am Legend — which has a sequel in the works — played a super-powered bum non-comic book-inspired superhero movie, Hancock, the following year, starred opposite his son, Jaden Smith, in 2013’s post-apocalyptic After Earth, and played a cop partnered with an orc (played by Joel Edgerton) in Netflix’s Bright from 2017.
Of course, when he hasn’t been saving the world, he led the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast, helped men find love with the women of their dreams in 2005’s Hitch, and earned Oscar nominations for Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness and a win for King Richard, among other highlights.
Based On A Futuristic Novel About A Revolutionary Device
Like Men in Black (a non-superhero comic book movie), I, Robot (which borrows elements from Isaac Asimov’s futuristic short story collection of the same name), and I Am Legend (the first adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel to use the original title), most of Will Smith’s best sci-fi movies are based on pre-existing literature. Resistor will be no exception, taking inspiration from the 2014 novel, Influx, by New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez. According to Penguin Random House’s description, the thriller follows a physicist named Jon Grady — who, along with his colleagues, has discovered a new, world-shattering technology with the ability to reflect gravity.
However, instead of fame and fortune, the device soon causes Grady and his team to fall prey to the Bureau of Technology Control — a secret organization with the intent to suppress and conceal technological advancements to prevent any potential social disruption. After refusing to comply with the bureau’s goals, Grady becomes their prisoner and must work with fellow victims to escape their clutches and reveal the truth. Intriguingly, assuming that Smith is playing Grady, you could call this a reversal to his roles in both I, Robot — a detective against technological progress — and Men in Black — an agent from an organization that specializes in hiding unusual secrets from the public.
The Screenplay Comes From Eric Warren Singer And Zak Olkewicz
Tasked with adapting Influx into Resistor is Eric Warren Singer, from a previous draft by Zak Olkewicz. Singer has two Academy Award nominations under his belt — one for writing 2013’s American Hustle with David O. Russell and the other for working on the screenplay for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick with Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, and Justin Marks. Early on in his career, he was a writer for MTV’s hit animated series, Aeon Flux — proving he does have an eye for the futuristic — and went on to pen the 2009 action thriller The International and co-write 2017’s fact-based firefighter movie, Only the Brave. More recently, he co-developed Shantaram for Apple TV+ and is also working on the upcoming third Now You See Me movie.
Olkewicz — the son of actor Walter Olkewicz of Twin Peaks fame — made his debut as a screenwriter with the second installment of 2021’s three-part Fear Street movie event (and some of the best horror movies on Netflix). He followed that with penning Bullet Train — director David Leitch’s star-studded adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka’s Maria Beetle — and co-writing 2023’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which takes inspiration from a single, pivotal chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Before then, he served as a producer on writer and director David F. Sandberg’s feature-length adaptation of his award-winning horror short, Lights Out.
Resistor Has No Director Attached Yet
While we know who has handled the script and who is producing — namely Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Tony Shaw — the director of Resistor has not been found at this time. We can think of many who might be a great fit for a futuristic action thriller like this, such as Ridley Scott or Denis Villeneuve. But, perhaps, this could be an opportunity for Smith to reunite with other filmmakers whom he has collaborated on similar projects with, like I, Robot helmer Alex Proyas or Gemini Man’s Ang Lee.
Will you be able to resist your urge to see Resistor as more information about the sci-fi flick is announced?
