“Certain things people don’t want to see you do”: Angelina Jolie Went Against Her Rule for 1 Movie That Was a Box-Office Bomb 

After appearing together in the box office success Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it was obvious for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to capitalize on their real-life romance. However, Jolie being a visionary star, revealed that she didn’t want to share the screen with her then-partner Pitt, in another romance drama. 

Perhaps, hoping to share the screen in an action flick where they were pitted against each other, much like their 2005 film, Angelina Jolie shared her opinion to Vanity Fair. However, despite her definite plan and explanation of why she chose to opt out of romantic films with Pitt, Jolie went against her rule to star in By The Sea (2015), which quite obviously tanked at the box office. 

Angelina Jolie Vowed to Never Star in a Romantic Drama Alongside Brad Pitt 

As Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s sizzling chemistry lit up the screen in their 2005 action romance Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it was clear that Hollywood had found its latest power couple. Further, as the film earned over $486M at the global box office, against its $110M estimated budget (via The Numbers), fans came clamoring for more. 

There appeared significant buzz surrounding the sequel to their 2005 movie, where fans hoped to see Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s life with kids. But when it came to Jolie, the self-proclaimed visionary declared her intentions to keep her professional and personal lives separate. Speaking with Vanity Fair in 2010, the actress mentioned that there would be no sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. 

People have tried. And it’s strange: do we have kids in the movie? We’ve thought about that, but it becomes personal now that we actually have kids. And if we work on it, we pull from our own life, which is funny to us, but you feel strange sharing too much. 

We did ask somebody to look into Mr. & Mrs. to see if they could crack a sequel, but there wasn’t anything original. It was just, Well, they’re going to get married, or they’ve got kids, or they get separated. Never great.

Further, Angelina Jolie clarified that she wouldn’t appear in any further romantic films with her then-partner Brad Pitt. Instead, the actress envisioned action-packed flicks where they could face off against each other, like some sort of cinematic version of a relationship therapy session.

And the logic behind this decision was clear—Jolie wanted to keep the romance at home and leave the drama to the silver screen. 

I’d love to. We’ve talked about it. We’d have to figure out who’s going to watch the kids, but it’s really about finding the right thing because we’ve looked. When you’re a couple, there are certain things people don’t want to see you do. 

It becomes too indulgent, too personal. I don’t think people want to see people who are really together intimate on-screen. Maybe we have to play bad guys that try to kill each other, so it’s just fun and aggressive, not dealing with some man-woman deal.

Realizing that people don’t like to watch real-life couples romancing onscreen, Angelina Jolie vowed to steer away from romantic dramas with Brad Pitt. Yet, in her own plot twist, Jolie’s “never again” mantra crumbled faster than anyone could imagine, and the actress went against her own rule to appear with Pitt in By The Sea. 

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s 2015 Romantic Movie Tanked at the Box Office 

Fast forward to 2015, Angelina Jolie seemed to forget her own mantra or rather chose to ignore her self-imposed rule by starring alongside her then-husband Brad Pitt in By The Sea. While the film dealt with a deep exploration of love and loss, Jolie and Pitt’s collaboration seemingly bored the life out of audiences who showed their interest in the film and entrusted their faith in the couple. 

Unlike the success of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s 2005 movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith which witnessed staggering success at the box office, their 2015 movie By The Sea struggled mightily in reviews and revenues. As depressing as its 35% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the film’s box office earnings suffered similarly by bagging merely $3M worldwide, against its $20M budget (via The Numbers). 

Perhaps Angelina Jolie should have followed her own rule, instead of believing that if she turned her real-life romance with Brad Pitt into a film, it would magically transform into box office gold. Well, the outcome was catastrophic, as the film tanked harder than the real-life couple whose marriage came crashing down a year later in 2016. 

By The Sea is currently available to watch on Prime Video. 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is currently available to watch on Netflix.