Constant jokes about Will Smith’s blue Genie look notwithstanding, Disney’s live-action Aladdin remake granted the studio’s wish by becoming a box office powerhouse during its opening weekend. A month later, the musical movie is still going strong at domestic and international theaters to the tune of $824 million at the global box office. That’s not Avengers money, of course, but it’s a lot better than many were expecting — including Smith himself. To celebrate the film’s financial gains, the 50-year-old entertainer took to Instagram to thank the film’s audiences.
Among other things to be thankful for, Smith was pleased to announce that Aladdin‘s global box office numbers had just surpassed those of Independence Day, which had previously been the actor’s highest grossing film ever. Now, that crown belongs to the Disney remake. “Aladdin just passed Independence Day as the highest grossing film of my entire career,” he said in the video message. “To be in this game as long as I’ve been in this game, and to have my biggest movie at this point in my career, I just want to say thank you.”
Of course, it would be a Will Smith Instagram post without some kind of dad joke (or dad joke-adjacent element) thrown into the mix. (After all, he is the undisputed king of Instagram.) Hence the surprisingly long cavalcade of saying “thank you” in numerous languages, which was obviously cut from many separate takes — presumably so that Smith could memorize the words he didn’t know and repeat them for the camera.
