Why Will Smith’s ‘Hancock’ might be in for a post-holiday fall

What happened

Will Smith’s latest action movie Hancock opened Tuesday and is expected to earn as much as $80 million over the Fourth of July weekend. (Reuters) But some critics are wondering if Smith’s role as a perpetually hung over superhero is too dark and preposterous for mass audiences, and so far the film has received mostly negative reviews.

What the commentators said

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There’s no doubt that Hancock will have a big opening weekend, said Jeremy Kay in a film blog in the Guardian. Will Smith “is the biggest movie star in the western world" and has a “mighty track record” over past Fourth of July weekend openings. A $50 million marketing blitz may "get bums on seats in the first weekend,” but “Hancock’s veneer of success will crack because audiences won’t buy the story.”

The timing may be ripe for a movie like Hancock, said Bob Thompson in the NationalPost.com’s blog The Ampersand. With the recent successes of the “sci-fi cartoon” WALL-E and the “bizarre over-the-top shoot ‘em up” Wanted, audiences seem to be “in the mood for different.” But what both of those movies have that Hancock doesn’t “are good reviews to go along with the great expectations.”

Audiences will be missing out if they skip Hancock, said Michelle Solomon in WESH.com. This “isn’t your typical stereotypical character with super human strength and special powers”—and that’s what’s “so utterly appealing.” Will Smith’s latest movie is “inventive, ingenious and altogether entertaining,” and it’s a “definite standout in the summer movie pack.”