He had a formula for becoming a star. Special effects, creatures and a love story.
Smith, "I said to [manager James Lassiter], 'I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.' And he said, 'Okay. Well, let’s figure out what that means.' And he went and got the top 10 movies of all time, the list of the top 10 movies of all time at the box office — top 10 box office successes — and we also looked at them, adjusted for inflation and views versus dollar value. Also, we looked at all the different variations. What we found is at the center, there were always special effects...there was always creatures, there was always a love story. So we started looking for movies that had special effects, creatures, and a love story."
I'd say it worked.