Will Smithcalled the film"[his] most painful failure" (even moreso than Wild Wild West) because he brought his son into it, and said that he planned to learn from the failure and focus on making films for reasons other than box office returns. He later wrote in his 2021 memoir Will that he "coached [Jaden] into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced", and that Jaden even sought emancipation in the wake of the film's failure due to him "[losing] his trust in [Will's] leadership". He eventually changed his mind and the two patched things up, but Will wrote that he's still haunted to have had such a negative effect on his son's life.
Creator Killer: The film was a decent-sized blow to the theatrical career of screenwriter Gary Whitta, whose next job was early story for Rogue One and otherwise has yet to get his next own screenplay into theaters.
Dyeing for Your Art: The studio insisted that Kristofer Hivju cut his hair and beard short over his strong objection, with Jaden Smith attempting to back him up. To make things worse, most of Hivju's role ended up getting cut.
Mid-Development Genre Shift: The film was originally not a science fiction story but about a father and son crashing their car in the mountains or some remote region, with the son having to go out and get rescue for his father. Will Smith then decided to change the setting to 1000 years in the future, which imposed a higher production budget.
Reality Subtext: Several reviewers have noted the likely unintentional parallel between Cypher in the background pushing his son Kitai to perform in a situation he is ill-prepared for, and Will Smith having his son Jaden as the star in his pet project.
Star-Derailing Role: The movie is clearly designed as a vehicle for Jaden Smith; instead, the generally poor reaction to his performance and frequent allegations of nepotism in the script seem bound to hold him back for some time. Will Smith's career was also briefly stalled.
Stillborn Franchise: In March 2018, it was revealed that the film was intended to be the first installment of a multimedia franchise titled 1000 AE that was reportedly pitched to the studio by Will Smith. Plans were originally for a sequel, a live-action television series, an animated television series, webisodes, mobisodes, a video game, consumer products, theme-park attractions, documentaries, comics, an educational program collaboration in partnership with NASA, cologne and perfume lines, and a social media platform. Though Smith wanted AE to be an immersive experience for the audience, all plans for additional media were abandoned following the film's poor reception and financial performance.
Won Jaden Smith and Will Smith the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor and Worst Supporting Actor, respectively.
"[his] most painful failure" (even moreso than Wild Wild West) because he brought his son into it, and said that he planned to learn from the failure and focus on making films for reasons other than box office returns. He later wrote in his 2021 memoir Will that he "coached [Jaden] into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced", and that Jaden even sought emancipation in the wake of the film's failure due to him "[losing] his trust in [Will's] leadership". He eventually changed his mind and the two patched things up, but Will wrote that he's still haunted to have had such a negative effect on his son's life.