Star-Studded Will Smith Movie Cracked Netflix’s Top-10

Sometimes Netflix has some extremely random films and television shows show up in its Top 10, and a little-seen Will Smith drama recently occupying the No. 6 spot. Collateral Beauty was released in 2016 and features a star-studded cast including Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Michael Peña and Naomi Harris. It told the story of a man named Howard (Smith) who undergoes a major tragedy and meets the physical manifestations of Love, Death, and Time, with a twist.

Collateral Beauty was a critical misstep, coming in at just 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. It had a minor box office run, making $88,528,280 worldwide on a $35,000,000 budget. It was surprising that a film with such a celebrated cast was such struggled to find an audience and acclaim at the time of its release, but the film has obviously found a second life on Netflix, becoming one of the most-watched films on the streaming giant last week.

Although the film may have been a critical flop, Smith spoke during the interview cycle about how personal the film was to him because he received the script when his own father became critically ill and would eventually pass away in November of 2016. “I’m doing all of this research about a guy who experiences death at the time my father was given six weeks [to live],” Smith told Ellen DeGeneres. Smith explained that he explored many different religions’ approaches to the afterlife during his research, calling the film “so deeply personal” to him.

“We were looking and we were talking and sharing everything, so this film for me is the most personal and beautiful journey,” Smith explained. “When art and life come together in that way and when you create something that could potentially help people get through difficult times, it’s fantastic. I hope you all see it, and I hope you love it, and anybody who needs it, I hope it really is able to do for you what it has for my father and I.”