Since the first Bad Boys movie was released in 1995, its main characters Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett have become firm fan favourites all over the world. Director Michael Bay’s flashy; over-the-top action scenes also cemented the movie franchise’s pop-culture cult status globally.
The original movie grossed a tame $65 million, while in 2003, the sequel; Bad Boys 2 grossed $273 million worldwide, leaving fans eagerly anticipating a third instalment.
After more than a decade since the last movie was released, Will Smith (Lowrey) and Martin Lawrence (Burnett) confirmed that the third movie is no longer just a rumour.
Martin Lawrence first announced the film in 2013 in an interview with Conan O’Brien. He later confirmed the official news in 2016 in an interview with Jimmy Fallon.
Set for a January 2018 release, filming for Bad Boys for Life is set to start in March 2017.
The name of the film is in reference to the characters’ famous motto “We ride together; we die together, bad boys for life”.
On looking forward to working with Martin Lawrence again, Will Smith told Jimmy Kimmel:
“Let me tell you. I love that dude. That’s among the best times I’ve ever had making movies. So I’m looking forward to it.”
While Michael Bay has stepped down as director for this film (and signed for Bad boys 4), Jerry Bruckheimer is expected to return as producer. Taking over at the helm is “The Grey” and “The A-Team” director Joe Carnahan.
The first and second instalments of Bad Boys saw the Detectives battling it out with drug kingpins across the streets of Miami. So what will Bad Boys for Life have in store for fans?
Director Joe Carnahan revealed about the film’s antagonist:
“It wasn’t challenging [coming up with the antagonist]. It should’ve been. You’ve got all these years in the game and you’ve made all these enemies, you’ve accumulated all this, so in that respect it would be easy. But I don’t wanna say anything else because I don’t wanna ruin the delicacy of who our antagonist is, because I think it’s very cool. It’s not one person. It’s a multi-headed hydra, I’ll say that. It works beautifully.”