By Alex KirschenbaumShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberDeep into his career, Jack Black has quietly become one of the top movie stars on the planet.
Since 2016, Black has starred in a whopping six films that have earned $500 million or more at the worldwide box office, including three that have cleared $900 million. Although Anaconda has been a bit of a dud, it's already grossed $110.3 million globally since Christmas, and could still clear $200 million. Not bad for an unloved flop.
Jack Black’s Insane Cinematic Portfolio
Two of his franchise entries this year could each clear $1 billion, with April's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and December's Jumanji 3 on the horizon. Black has thoroughly embraced his go-to persona in these kid-friendly extravaganzas as something of a rambunctious, goofball wild man.
Beyond those two long-running series, Black also serves as the anchor of the Kung Fu Panda films, piloted a pair of hit Goosebumps chiller adventures, and likely kicked off yet another franchise with last year’s $958.2 million-grossing A Minecraft Movie.
...But Black was almost a part of yet another billion-dollar property.
During a new conversation with Capital FM to promote the comedy reboot of Anaconda, Black revealed that he had been approached to play the primary baddie in the first installment of a now-beloved Pixar superhero series.
“I was offered, and I do regret it, saying no… I was offered Syndrome in that fantastic movie The Incredibles — one of my favorites of all time, by the way,” Black said. “And I said no because I was like, ‘Uhhh, [director] Brad Bird? Never heard of him!’ [I said to him], ‘This character that you’re offering me is like a villain, but he’s kinda one-dimensional. I’m interested but I’d like to see a rewrite. Will you add some dimensions to this character?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re done.'”
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Almost Famous star Jason Lee was swapped in for Black, and the rest if box office history.
The first Incredibles earned $631.4 million worldwide in 2004 dollars, while its sequel took in a whopping $1.2 billion 14 years later. A third movie is on the way, as Pixar has begun pivoting from original content and has prioritized milking established intellectual property. Beyond that, though, the original Incredibles stands apart as one of Pixar’s best movies, and sneakily one of the great superhero adventures this century. It stands as an opportunity missed in Black’s oeuvre.
“I learned a valuable lesson because when that movie came out, it was one of the best movies ever made,” Black continued. “I was like, ‘Why was I being so difficult?’”
Ultimately, with the Super Mario and Kung Fu Panda series, Black did embrace the animation game following his Incredibles snafu.
More news: Hugh Jackman Reimagines Heroic Role in New Action Trailer
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