Bad Boys 4’ is still in development despite Will Smith’s Oscars incident, says Sony chairman Tom Rothman. Michael Bay unleashed the original Bad Boys on the world in 1995, with Smith and Martin Lawrence in the roles of buddy cops. Bad Boys II followed in 2003 with the two stars and Bay returning for more action movie mayhem.
But the world seemed to have had enough of Smith and Lawrence as cops after Bad Boys II, even though the sequel far outpaced the original by grossing $273 million at the box office. It would indeed take all the way until 2020 for Sony to revisit the franchise with a third film, entitled Bad Boys For Life. Though Bay did not return as director for the third Bad Boys, Smith and Lawrence did. And it turned out the movie didn’t need Bay, as ‘Bad Boys For Life’ went on to gross a surprising $426 million worldwide. Such big box office numbers obviously guaranteed that Bad Boys would live on, and indeed Bad Boys 4 was confirmed to be in the works in mid-2020.
But the road to getting Bad Boys 4 to screens seemed to hit a major bump thanks to Smith’s incident at this year’s Oscars where he slapped presenter Chris Rock in response to Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett. Indeed in April it was reported that Bad Boys 4 was on pause as Smith experienced major fall-out from his on-camera slap of Rock. However, Sony chairman Rothman has just made a statement refuting reports that Bad Boys 4 is on pause.
No. That was inaccurate. That movie’s been in development and still is. There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving. That was a very unfortunate thing that happened, and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years, and I know him to be a good person. That was an example of a very good person having a very bad moment, in front of the world. I believe his apology and regret is genuine, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption. -Screen Rant
