One of the most explosive moments of Super Bowl Sunday will come during a commercial break.
A $40 million Miami mansion was blown to smithereens for the Will Smith action film “Bad Boys 2.”
The most expensive detonation in film history will make its TV debut when the movie’s trailer airs during the Raiders-Buccaneers game.
The sumptuous five-bedroom spread, on the shores of Delray Beach, north of Miami, took seven years to build, but was reduced to a pile of rubble in 15 seconds by the kings of the big-screen bang, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
“The explosion was great, it was huge,” said Smith. “Little did we know Michael was this mad scientist. It’s kind of messy, but it’s a good way to get messy because it’s movie magic.”
The extravagant dwelling – which included 40-foot ceilings, a home cinema, 12 bathrooms and a 15-car garage – was built for the heir to the Coca-Cola fortune, Mark Bird.
But he moved his family away after an armed gunman tried to kidnap his family in the rented house they were living in across the road.
Developer Mark Pulte bought back the three plots the house sat on and soon realized he could get more by selling them off separately. But he had to get rid of the house. So he placed an ad in a Hollywood trade magazine suggesting it could be used for a film.
A batch of powerful explosives, 50,000 gallons of gasoline and a well-placed fuse later, and the house was no more.
“This was the most expensive item that I’ve ever blown up,” said Bay, director of other high-octane summer blockbusters like “Pearl Harbor,” “Armageddon” and “The Rock.”
“It was $40 million, this house, and it came down like a tower of cards.”
The mansion does get some screen time before it’s obliterated – in the final scenes of the movie, Smith and his co-star Martin Lawrence can be seen running around the grounds, pumping the walls with bullets.
“Bad Boys 2” hits theaters July 18. With Splash News