Will Smith: ''After Earth' was the most painful failure in my career'

Will Smith has branded 2013's After Earth "the most painful failure in my career".

Smith starred opposite his son Jaden in the $130 million (£85 million) sci-fi blockbuster from director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs). When it opened in the US in May 2013, After Earth became a high-profile summer flop, but Shyamalan's film performed more respectably in other territories and eventually grossed around $240 million (£155 million) million worldwide.

Comparing After Earth to another of his less successful films, 1999's Wild Wild West, Smith told Esquire: "Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth because my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it. That was excruciating. What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of After Earth. I stopped working for a year and a half."

"That was the most painful failure in my career," Smith added.

Smith's first lead role since After Earth comes in Focus, an action rom-com co-starring rising star Margot Robbie that opens in UK cinemas on February 27. Watch the trailer below.

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