Will Smith vs. 'Transformers' - 4th of July Box Office Weekend

This summer (2011) Will Smith is nowhere to be found, risking his throne at the Independence Day weekend box office. Will the 3rd Transformers installment, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," nudge Will Smith down a notch? Nonetheless, Smith has starred in 4 films that opened Independence Day weekend and they are among the top 10 grossing movies of the July 4 weekend box office.

If Smith had gotten his Spidey suit on, he could have claimed the #1 movie to open Independence Day weekend, "Spider-Man 2." Spidey cast his web to the extent of $88 million gross on July 4 weekend in 2004. Michael Bay put Optimus Prime and the gang into the #2 spot, with "Transformers" taking $70 million on July 4 weekend, 2007.

Still, Will Smith is the single actor with the biggest box office draw on Independence Day weekend. It all started with "Independence Day" back in 1996 when Smith saved the day gunning down aliens as an F-18 pilot. "Independence Day" currently holds the #9 spot on the all time gross for July 4 opening weekend, with $50 million.

Smith topped himself at the box office with "Men in Black" and its sequel, which both opened on July 4 weekends. In 1997, just a year after "ID4," Smith was back at the aliens and "Men in Black" invaded more than 3,000 theaters with a $51 million weekend. In 2002, Smith returned with "Men in Black II," taking $52 million gross, putting the Franchise in the current #8 and #9 spot for top grossing July 4 weekends.

Films like "War of the Worlds" climbed into the #3 spot in 2005, with a $64 million July 4 weekend box office. "Superman Returns" flew into the #6 spot for opening box office Independence Day weekend, but when Smith decided to pull his own flying heroics, it was on. In 2008 Will Smith took the #5 spot starring in "Hancock," which rallied a $62 million box office gross July 4 weekend.

In 12 years time, Will Smith contributed to more than $216 million in box office gross on Independence Day weekends alone. The actor isn't set to reappear at the box office until 2012, with "Bad Boys 3" and "Men in Black 3," and neither are planned, for now, to open July 4 weekend. The "Bad Boys" series is also from Michael Bay, who will put "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" to the test Independence Day weekend, 2011.

Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" opened the weekend before Independence Day and is now the 12th highest grossing weekend box office of all time at almost $109 Million. Yet, it would take a $140 million weekend box office for the Transformers to serve a blow to Will Smith. While films like "The Dark Knight," "Spider-Man 3," and "Twilight: New Moon" have all broken $140 million opening weekends, this has never happened on a July 4 weekend, especially for a film running on "franchise fumes," as the folks at boxofficemojo.com put it.