It looks like Sony Pictures is moving forward with bringing the third Bad Boys installment to life, as per recent Variety reports.
Bad Boys For Life was given a 2020 release date last year. But it appears that production will begin in 2019. Producers have signed off on a first draft script already. Will Smith is looking to reprise his role as Detective Mike Lowrey, while Martin Lawrence is still circling a deal to return as Marcus Burnett.
The plan is to have the film be released by Martin Luther King Jr.’s weekend in 2020, which is January 17th.
Sony “declined to comment on specifics related to negotiations,” but Variety had an earlier chat with Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch that yielded some intel. “If we’re going to make another Bad Boys after 15 years, it’s got to be next-level great,” Panitch said.
The third flick in the franchise will be helmed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, best known for FX’s Snowfall. “These guys are amazing,” Panitch said. “They loved the first movies, but they’re not afraid to change things up.”
Unlike other franchise reboots such as Jumanji and Men In Black, the threequel is aiming to cast its original leads but adding a fresh story to them.
The story for No. 3 will reportedly center on Lowery going through a midlife crisis while Burnett works as a private eye. Though the characters have apparently endured a falling out since the last time we saw them, a new common enemy inspires them to set aside their differences.
