Will Smith and Martin Lawrence dropped some exciting news last week, as the two friends and co-stars reunited to confirm that Bad Boys 4 is in the works! The news is incredibly exciting, and fans have essentially been hoping for another since the franchise’s successful threequel dropped in 2020. So you can bet that there was plenty of hype once the stars divulged their plans via social media. Many are still on cloud nine following the stars’ massive announcement but, now, some bigger news regarding the upcoming production has come to light.
On Sunday night, Questlove attended the Grammy Awards, which featured a tribute celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The musician was one of the folks who helped organize the performance, which featured the likes of LL Cool J, Flavor Flav and Queen Latifah. The in-house band leader of The Tonight Show teased what had been planned ahead of showtime and, while doing so, he confirmed that Will Smith was set to appear as well. However, that didn’t pan out, as Smith had another professional obligation to contend with:
I’ll give the spoiler alert away. Will Smith was a part of the festivities tonight, but they started shooting ‘Bad Boys 4’ this week. There were a lot of preliminary shots that he had to do, so we had to lose Will.
You heard it from Questlove, Bad Boys 4 is officially filming! It goes without saying that this is a major step forward for the highly anticipated production, and it should get fans even more excited. Of course, the downside to the development is that it meant Will Smith – who once rapped under the moniker of The Fresh Prince – couldn’t participate in the Grammys’ tribute. Still, the Summer of Soul director admitted to Variety that he knew landing Smith would be “a shot in the dark,” as the actor is “always shooting movies.”
It was in May 2020 that producer Jerry Bruckheimer first indicated that Bad Boys 4 could happen at some point. The move made sense, especially since Bad Boys for Life dominated at the box office nearly three years ago. However, due to a certain event that occurred in 2022, some wondered if the film would still see the light of day.
After Will Smith’s Oscars slap, many began to speculate that the film would be taken off the docket. Jerry Bruckheimer declined to address whether development would be paused due to Smith’s televised moment. Eventually, Sony chief Tom Rothman shot down that claim, calling reports of any cancellation “inaccurate.” Sometime after, Martin Lawrence also claimed the movie hadn’t been sunk and stated his belief that the franchise had, at least, one more installment in it.
Well, the creative team’s plans are all coming together, it seems, and this bit of information from Questlove makes the film’s eventual release feel that much more real. It’s possible that fans could get some behind-the-scenes looks at the movie in the coming months, courtesy of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s social media accounts. I, for one, can’t wait to see what lies ahead for Detective Lieutenants Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett.
You can stream the first two installments in the Bad Boys franchise using a Netflix subscription, while the latest flick is available to Hulu subscription holders. And for details on movies arriving in the coming months, check out CinemaBlend’s schedule of 2023 new movie releases.