The fourth Bad Boys film was announced by Smith with an Instagram video, which saw him reunite with Lawrence and deliver their catchphrase, “bad boys for life.” As Smith drives to Lawrence’s house, he tells his followers: “Yo, I’ve got an announcement. You better stop scrolling.”
From the soundtrack of 2003’s Bad Boys II, Shake Ya Tailfeather by Nelly, P Diddy and Murphy Lee can be heard in the background
Lawrence and the duo announce the fourth film is officially on the way at Lawrence’s door. Lawrence shouts, “It’s almost that time!” They joke that they should not have wasted the Bad Boys For Life title on the third film, since it could have been used as a pun in the fourth.
A sequel to the cancelled Batgirl film will be directed by the same team. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have already directed one previous film in the franchise – Bad Boys For Life, released in 2020. One of the last blockbusters before the Covid pandemic, it took $426 million (£346 million) to the box office.
Lawrence denied the suggestion last summer that the next installment would be canceled. “We’ve got one more at least,” he told Ebony. In reflecting on the franchise as a whole, he said: “It was a big deal.” It was huge for us to come together and demonstrate that we could bring people to the box office – that two black stars, two sitcom stars, could make money.”
Originally released in 1995, Bad Boys grossed $141 million (£114 million) worldwide, while its 2003 sequel, Bad Boys II, grossed $273 million (£222 million). In terms of box office performance, Bad Boys For Life outperformed both previous entries combined – although part of that can be attributed to the inflation of cinema ticket prices over the last 17 years.
