Box office?
This movie made $585 million worldwide on a $150 million budget and was the 7th highest grossing film worldwide of 2007 releases (it arguably made more than popular movies like National Treasures 2, Bourne Ultimatum, Live free or Die hard).
My question, was this film's box office success because the novels were really popular or was it more because of Will Smith's star power?
I think it had to do with the book for sure. Honestly if Will was replaced with another A-list actor at that time like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, I'm certain it would have made the same if not possibly more.