Will Smith’s next action thriller just landed Jaafar Jackson, a star from a 2026 box office smash Michael

If you blinked, you might have missed this bit of industry wheeling and dealing: Amazon MGM Studios has quietly sunk a staggering amount of money into a mystery thriller that you will not find in your local cinema. Instead, Supermax is heading straight to Prime Video in more than 240 countries, bypassing a theatrical debut entirely. You’d think with this sort of budget and cast, it would land in cinemas—apparently not.

Amazon MGM paid around $70 million for global rights to Supermax, sight unseen, at the Cannes market in May.

Filming is set to begin in the middle of this month, with the premise cooked up as a proper locked-room thriller: imagine the most secure prison imaginable, then dump two FBI agents inside it to solve a murder. No one escapes, everyone’s a suspect, and you get the idea.

Star Power in the Cell Block

The cast is solid: Will Smith took the lead just after Cannes, playing an investigator named Rex. AnnaSophia Robb climbed aboard a few weeks later as his younger partner. But the latest addition to the cast sheet is raising eyebrows for a good reason—in terms of sheer momentum, he's arguably having a bigger 2026 than either of them. Jaafar Jackson, who you may only just have heard of, is joining Supermax for what is only his second film role. If the name's ringing a bell, that’s because he’s Michael Jackson’s nephew, and he’s fresh off the lead in Antoine Fuqua’s biopic Michael.

Details about his character are a bit vague. No announcement yet on who exactly Jackson will be playing in the prison whodunnit setup.

Who Is Jaafar Jackson, Anyway?

Here’s the inside story: Jaafar Jackson's first film appearance was a lead role—playing his own uncle in Michael—and the results were, frankly, strange by box office standards. The film has now pulled in over $1 billion worldwide since its April release, making it the biggest-grossing music biopic on record. That’s bananas for a debut performance. But here’s where it gets weirder: critics did not care for the film, leaving it sitting at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. Most of the savaging came down to the script’s decision to cut off Jackson’s life story at the 1988 Bad tour, entirely sidestepping the later years and allegations. Audiences, however, loved it, giving the film a resounding 97% approval.

Nearly every review, including our own Julian Roman’s solid 3.5-out-of-5 writeup, carved out an exception for Jaafar’s turn in the lead. 'A remarkable feature debut,' Roman called it. That sort of performance, coupled with the sheer commercial numbers, explains why Jackson’s already landed his next major film—despite the critical dogpile.

Behind the Camera & What’s Next

Supermax has David Gordon Green (of the recent Halloween trilogy fame) directing, working from a script by David Weil and David J. Rosen—who’ve both had a run with twisty genre fare via Hunters and Invasion. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman are producing for The Picture Company, along with Will Smith himself and Adam Fishbach for Westbrook.

For Smith, this marks his first original studio film in years that isn’t tied to an existing franchise. The decision to skip cinemas and push a big-star, big-budget thriller direct to streaming definitely stings a bit. In a previous era, a film like this would have been right at home over the summer holidays. Now, it’s just another Prime Video exclusive. His other projects, meanwhile, remain stuck in franchise territory—there’s still talk of a fifth Men in Black and that I Am Legend sequel with Michael B. Jordan.

• Supermax: High-concept, high-security murder mystery. Will Smith, AnnaSophia Robb, and Jaafar Jackson star. Around $70 million budget. No cinema release, only on Prime Video. Shoots start mid-June 2026.
• Michael: Jaafar Jackson’s feature debut as his uncle, directed by Antoine Fuqua. Launched April 2026, has grossed over $1 billion globally, despite a 39% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and controversy over what the film left out.
• Michael 2 is already in the pipeline. Lionsgate confirmed the sequel and is reportedly a quarter finished thanks to scenes shot during the first film’s production. The shoot is being eyed for 2027.

So, while Jaafar Jackson waits for all the Michael drama to resume, Supermax gives him a shot at playing someone he isn’t actually related to for once.