Will Smith has reunited with his estranged wife Jada for a new business venture, as the actor attempts to relaunch his career after the viral Oscars slap.
The couple separated in 2023 after she admitted to an affair with family friend August Alsina in 2020.
But it’s been announced that Will and Jada’s entertainment company Westbrook has signed a first-look deal with Paramount to create new theatrical films, hinting at the actor’s gradual return to Hollywood.
Will, 56, has been largely frozen out of the industry since he slapped actor Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, but is now expected to star in projects developed under the partnership, while Jada, 53, takes on producing roles.
In a statement announcing the agreement, Paramount said Westbrook would concentrate on ‘global, four-quadrant theatrical movies’ with franchise potential, many of them based on pre-existing intellectual properties.
Paramount confirmed two films are already in development – Sugar Bandits, a thriller adapted from Chuck Hogan’s novel Devils in Exile, and Rabbit Hole, written by Jon Spaihts, one of the credited screenwriters of the Dune films.
Will Smith has reunited with his estranged wife Jada as part of his comeback, as their entertainment company have signed a new first-look deal with Paramount
The performer sparked backlash on social media last month when fans spotted he’d used AI to generate crowds of fans in a video to promote his UK tour
Under the deal, Westbrook will be headquartered on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, according to Variety.
The move comes as Paramount continues an aggressive expansion strategy following its $8 billion merger with Skydance.
Recent deals include bringing Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer over from Netflix and securing rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship events in a $7.7 billion agreement lasting seven years.
Westbrook has previously produced several high-profile titles.
Emancipation starred Will in 2022, while Bad Boys: Ride or Die became a commercial success in 2024 despite the controversy surrounding him.
King Richard, released in 2021, won Will an Academy Award for Best Actor.
That night was overshadowed by his onstage assault of comedian Chris Rock during the Oscars ceremony, after Chris made a joke about Jada’s buzzcut. He has since issued multiple public apologies for the incident.
Last month, Will kickstarted his UK tour as part of his Hollywood comeback, and to promote the shows he released a video that appeared to show him on stage, with the caption: ‘My favourite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too.’
Social media users have pointed out a number of bizarre visual errors in the clip, such as blurred faces
Another part of the clip shows a man’s knuckle seemingly blur along with his sign, which reads: ‘”You Can Make It” helped me survive cancer. THX Will’
Will has been largely frozen out of the industry since he slapped actor Chris Rock at the Oscars, but is expected to star in projects developed under this new partnership
Since its release two weeks ago, the video has gone viral for all the wrong reasons, with fans claiming it uses AI-generated footage.
Social media users have pointed out a number of bizarre visual errors in the clip, such as blurred faces, oddly shaped hands that appear to have six fingers, and a sign that reads ‘FR6SH CRINCE’.
Another part of the clip shows a man’s knuckle seemingly blur along with his sign, which reads: ‘”You Can Make It” helped me survive cancer. THX Will.’
The clip also features a woman who is seen holding onto a sign, but the headband of another woman behind her appears over her wrist.
Comments included: ‘Why is the crowd fake??’
‘Equal parts embarrassing as it is hilarious;’
‘Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds and bot comments on your video. Tragic, man. You used to be cool;’
‘There’s no way the creators didn’t see how obvious the AI was. Is it intentional to get the conversation going?’
‘Okay, this is really funny. Making a fake crowd of people with signs talking about how you saved their lives holy moly. Will knows he felled [sic] off and is having a crisis about it.’
Jada admitted in 2020 that she’d had an affair with singer August Alsina.
Her marriage to Will previously came under blistering public scrutiny in 2020, when she interviewed him on her chat show Red Table Talk about an ‘entanglement’ she had four years earlier with Alsina, who is 21 years her junior.
Her split from Will happened in the same year that she had the affair with August.
News of Jada’s fling with August first emerged in 2020 – but she and Will initially denied the allegations, claiming they were ‘absolutely not true’.
In an interview with radio host Angela Yee on June 30 that year, August said that he had been romantically involved with Jada and that he had received Will’s blessing.
The following month, Jada sat down with Will to address the rumours regarding the status of their relationship – and decided to film the entire conversation on camera as part of her Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk.
Jada confirmed that she was in an ‘entanglement’ with August – but insisted that she and Will were separated at the time.
‘We were over,’ she said to Will on the episode. ‘From there, as time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August.’
However, the pair denied August’s claim that Will had given him permission to pursue the relationship with Jada.
