Will Smith signs on for role in live action Dumbo reboot

Will Smith is taking on a new role opposite a talking elephant in Disnry's new Dumbo movie.

His career has taken a bit of a beating recently, and Will Smith seems willing to try anything to get his career back off the ground.

According to Deadline, Smith is in negotiations to star in Disney's live action reboot of Dumbo.

Sadly, and despite the technology being available, Smith is reportedly not set to play the elephant himself.

Instead, Smith is in line to play the father of the children who befriend the flying elephant, in Tim Burton's adaptation. Variety reports that Tom Hanks may sign on as the villain.

Smith is also looking at bringing back his popular 90's action-comedy franchiseBad Boys for a third movie as he tries to reboot his career.

Once one of the world's most popular actors, a series of flops have seen Smith's star dented. 2013's After: Earth was seen as a nepotistic attempt at launching Jaden Smith's career and it bombed at the box office, followed by poor critical and commercial reception for 2015's Concussion and Focus.

While Smith was seen as one of the few highlight's of last year's super-villain film Suicide Squad, the actor then starred in Collateral Beauty, which was savaged by critic's and flopped at the box office.

Smith hopes that Dumbo will come with a big box office return, similar to the success Angelina Jolie had with Maleficent, which made over NZ$1 billion at the box office.

The original Dumbo, about a circus elephant who discovers he can fly using his ears, came out in 1941. It is just the latest of Disney's classic animations to be rebooted, following the likes of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.

The script for Dumbo comes from Ehren Kruger, one of the writers of Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Smith is not the Oscar nominee eyeing the box office potential of a Disney movie, with Emma Stone recently signing up to play Cruella De Ville in a live action prequel.