The Will Smith comeback tour is officially underway! Today, on social media, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence confirmed Bad Boys 4 is in pre-production, with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning to direct. Chris Bremner is writing the script, with Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith for Westbrook, Doug Belgrad, and Chad Oman producing. Martin Lawrence, James Lassiter, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman, and Jon Mone executive produce.
In his Instagram post, an overwhelmingly excited Will Smith filmed himself driving to meet with Martin Lawrence, who joined Smith to celebrate today’s announcement.
Before the Covid pandemic threw the world into chaos and lockdown, the third movie in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, banked over $426M worldwide. Altogether, the Bad Boys franchise earned $870.7M globally. In other words, there’s no reason not to make another sequel (and more money), especially with Smith trying to polish his image after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah recently directed Rebel from a script they wrote with Kevin Meul. The plot focuses on a family torn apart over a little Muslim Boy’s future. Rebel comes after the duo shot the pilot and finale of Marvel’s Ms. Marvel, a series that remains the studio’s highest-rated Marvel project on Rotten Tomatoes. Then there’s DC’s defunct Batgirl film. El Arbi and Fallah shot the DC superhero title with Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton, and J.K. Simmons leading the charge. The film was near completion when DC’s David Zaslav pulled the plug to qualify the film as a tax write-off. The cancelation of Batgirl caused a significant stir among DC fans, with many begging DC Bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran to reinstate the film as a part of their Phase 1 lineup. Unfortunately, the duo failed to include Batgirl in their newly-announced plan. Sadly, the situation is complicated, and it’s unlikely Batgirl will ever see the light of day.
What do you think about Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reuniting for Bad Boys 4? Are you excited about the franchise moving forward? Is the world ready to welcome Smith back with open arms? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.