Actor Martin Lawrence has confirmed that he is soon making a return with Will Smith as famous rule-breaking Miami cops, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, in the highly anticipated next installment of the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys 3, currently titled Bad Boys For Life.
Lawrence announced the news by posting a picture of himself with Smith on Instagram. “It’s official. Bad Boys for Life,” he captioned the picture.
The original Bad Boys, which was released back in 1995, was a huge success. It raked in $65.8 million in domestic box office revenue. Nearly after a decade, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett’s duo returned back for the 2003 sequel film Bad Boys II which grossed $138.6 million.
The success of the first two films paved way for another sequel film, but the project got delayed a couple of times. Back in March 2017, director Joe Carnahan exited the project over creative differences resulting in further delay.
Last month, Variety reported Bad Boys For Life will enter into production soon as Sony Pictures has found the perfect script for the film penned down by Chris Bremner (The Wedding Ringer and The Secret Life of Houdini). Both David Guggenheim and Joe Carnahan previously tried drafting the film’s screenplay, with the latter also attached to direct at one point. Both none of those drafts got approved, which led to Bremner’s appointment.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have reportedly replaced director Michael Bay, who helmed the first two Bad Boys films. The two are best known for their directing FX’s hit drama series, Snowfall.
“These guys are amazing,” Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch said about the director duo in a previous interview. “They loved the first movies, but they’re not afraid to change things up.”
The production on Bad Boys 3 is expected to begin in early 2019, with a plan to release the film by Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in 2020.
Source: Martin Lawrence
