Will Smith announced that he has planned to stop making blockbuster movies in an interview with Digital Spy that was published Tuesday.

Smith has starred in such box office hits as Bad Boys and Men In Black, but the actor said he was ready for a change. The 44-year-old said that he wanted to challenge himself in roles that did not involve him trying to save the world. He made the admission while promoting his latest flick After Earth.

"It's been an absolute necessity that the movie be a blockbuster, but I think I'm going to start moving out of that and finding more danger in my artistic choices," he said.

Smith said that he wanted audiences to feel a greater connection to his movie.

"There's something about making movies that just really gets me excited," he said. "I love people being wrapped in a story and being able to deliver that emotional punch line at the end of the story."

Smith's comments came as his widely panned After Earth, also starring his son Jaden, underperformed at the box office. The futuristic film reportedly cost $130 million to make but came in third with a haul of $27 million in its debut last week. The revenue was a steep down from Men In Black debuting at the top of the box office with $54.6 million in the summer of 2012.

The failure of After Earth to achieve similar commercial success has led some to question Smith's viability as box office draw. After Earth was his worst summer opening in 20 years.

"I do get the sense, at least from the media persona, that the shine is off a little bit and that Smith's star is fading slightly," Grady Smith, writer and box-office analyst for Entertainment Weekly, told the Daily Beast on May 31.

The analyst, who has no relation to the movie star, added that the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air actor needed to regroup.

"I think that people aren't as charmed by him as they used to be, and that does create a question mark around and affect the box office at some level," he said.

Watch Smith's interview with Digital Spy below.

Tags: Will Smith After Earth