CELEBRITY
Will Smith Hosts Star Studded ‘Bel-Air’ Drive-In Premiere
Willy from Philly was in full affect Wednesday night.
Peacock, Executive Producer Will Smith, Westbrook Studios, and Universal Television hosted a star-studded drive-in experience and premiere screening for the highly-anticipated series premiere of Bel-Air at The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.
The much-anticipated drama, inspired by Morgan Cooper’s viral trailer, stars Jabari Banks as Philly-native Will Smith, who moves to Bel-Air to live with his rich relatives.
Will Smith and Jabari Banks
The premiere of the streamer’s new drama series reimagined the iconic, culture-defining ‘90s sitcom, in style with a star-studded event with many surprises along the way.
From the moment guests arrived they found themselves completely immersed in the character of Will, taking guests from the basketball courts of West Philadelphia to the moment Will’s life got “flipped-turned upside down” and everything in between.
Smith also took a moment to introduce the first episode and performed a snippet of his song with Joyner Lucas, while DJ Jazzy Jeff spinner tunes on the ones and twos.
BEL-AIR cast: Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones, Simone Joy Jones and Executive Producer Will Smith.
Guests included the Bel-Air cast (pictured above) plus original The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air cast members including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Tatyana Ali, Joseph Marcell and Vernee Watson-Johnson.
The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air aired for six seasons on NBC from 1990 to 1996. The sitcom was created by Andy and Susan Borowitz, and was based loosely on Benny Medina’s life.
Joseph Marcell and Vernee Watson-Johnson
Will Smith and Vernee Watson-Johnson
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Tatyana Ali
Will shared that he originally was apprehensive about bringing the series back.
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Smith’s family including wife Jada Pinkett Smith and son Jaden Smith were also in attendance along with Duane Martin, Jaleel White, Karrueche Tran, Bresha Webb, Marsai Martin, Vanessa Simmons, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Amin Joseph and Amber Stevens West.
Jaden Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith
Bresha Webb
Vanessa Simmons
Wendy Raquel Robinson
Bel-Air drops on February 13, only on Peacock.