Warning: Contains spoilers for both Bad Boys For Life and Gemini Man. 

Between Gemini Man and Bad Boys 3, Will Smith has starred in two films within the past year with eerily similar plots. In Hollywood, surely now and again two different films, written by different individuals, can manage to carry over some resemblance. After all there are only so many stories that can be told in new and inventive ways. Different casts and directors can freshen up old ideas and make them feel original again. However, for two films with identical plots, starring the same actor, to release less than six months apart, is not often seen, if ever. Somehow, some way, Will Smith managed to pull it off.

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Releasing in November of last year, Gemini Man proved to be a run-of-the-mill action film with a twist. Throughout the film, Will Smith’s Henry Brogan is being hunted by an unknown assassin. He’d come to find out the individual was a younger clone of himself who went by by the name of Junior. Their conflict eventually leads to Junior losing to his matured self, which results in him having a change of heart. Gemini Man was not well received on any front, as unique the concept seemed to be, or so Ang Lee and Will Smith thought.

Come January 2020, Bad Boys For Life has hit theaters. The third installment of the series sees Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey gunned down early in the film by an unknown shooter. Following a lengthy recovery period, Mike decides to go after the gunman, who goes by the name of Armando Armas. As it is revealed later in the film, Armando is the biological son of Mike, following his affair with Armando’s mother, Isabel. In the end, Armando is apprehended and is soon offered a position to work alongside Mike on a case, if for nothing else than to at least reduce his lengthy prison sentence and get to know his dad.

This is of course a fun detail to note, and is certainly a good sign for Will Smith, who is getting a hefty workload to start the new decade. There are a great many nuances to the plots of both Gemini Man and Bad Boys for Life that set them apart, but it is clear that at their core they are not so different. As it stands, the story of one’s “younger self”, be that metaphorical or literal, coming after them to kill them is understandably common. Hollywood is certainly no stranger to depicting strained father-son relationships on the big screen, but what puts this instance over the top is the employ of the same lead actor in Will Smith, as well as the close time frame in which these films were released, making it a remarkable coincidence.

On a more serious note comes the business discussion that stems from all of this. Gemini Man did not fare very well financially or in the eyes of critics, resulting in a pretty major loss considering it just barely made back its bloated $138 million budget, which likely went on the impressive de-ageing technology used on Smith. Bad Boys 3 has strong reviews and box office so far, which suggests that it can keep up its momentum and not suffer the same fate as Gemini Man. After all, it’s unlikely Will Smith would like to continue his current trend of seeing double.