I’m still not over how bland the first official poster is for the January release of Bad Boys For Life. The newest trailer now online as of Tuesday certainly has more appeal and with none other than Will Smith and Martin Lawrence leading the way as they tear through the streets, fighting all sorts of crime and shenanigans and what not.
It may have taken 24 years, but it’s nice to see the zeitgeist in film fandom being met with some providence for film fans keen on seeing their favorite stars return to their roles.
Trade news sources are confirming release date changes for at least two titles this week.
Columbia/Universal
First up is Bad Boys For Life, currently set up at Sony for Morrocan film duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Gangsta) to direct. Anita Busch at Deadline is confirming a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend release on January 17, 2020 with actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprising their roles for a third time since the trilogy took off in 1995. That film and its 2003 sequel were both directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer who will also produce the threequel.
Last and far from least is the exciting reunion of Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson pairing up for Hobbs and Shaw spinning off the longstanding hit Fast And Furious film series. Previously slated for a July 26, 2019 release, Universal Pictures is pushing the date back one week to August 2, 2019 when it will compete with 20th Century Fox release, The New Mutants.
David Leitch will add to his credentials as director here following John Wick and solo directing Atomic Blonde and upcoming Deadpool 2. Chris Morgan is penning the screenplay for the film as the studio further maintains its focus on finalizing the franchise with Justin Lin returning to direct the ninth and tenth films.
In a span of 23 years, Sony Pictures’s Bad Boys franchise has long been both a success and a “what if” for fans who’ve waited for a third installment since Michael Bay unloaded an explosive sequel to the 1995 original. For this, all eyes are now on Bad Boys For Life with word from Deadline that Belgian directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are negotiating with Sony to direct the film beginning in August.
El Arbi and Fallah paved a career path for themselves in TV and film, scoring a hit in 2015 with their second feature, Black, and are now in tow with their latest, Gangsta. The former can be quoted in Variety as of Jamuary 3 even expressing interest in the film saying “We’d love to do ‘Bad Boys 3,’ that’s right up our alley.” among other titles of interest. Both are also attached to a fourth installmemt of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise as of 2016.
The two Morrocan-born filmmakers are now in talks for the film which will finally see the reunion of actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the role of odd couple Miami P.D. detectives Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett. Development had changed hands since 2008 with script and story duties consectively going to Peter Craig, David Guggenheim and Joe Carnahan synonymously with the various stops and starts that occurred. Carnahan left the film last year having prioritized his upcoming WarParty production slate with partner, actor Frank Grillo.
The film was pulled altogether last August, a few months before NBC scored a pilot commitment for a TV spin-off of the franchise that now has Gabrielle Union attached and Ernie Hudson also on board to play her father Joseph; Union saw her role in Bad Boys 2 co-starring as Sydney Burnett, sister to Lawrence’s role. There’s no word yet if both will appear next to their on-screen sibling in the film.
Jerry Bruckheimer is back as producer from a new script is by Chris Bremner.
It was likely a matter of time but now it appears that Joe Carnahan is no longer directing Bad Boys For Life, according to THR. The film has hit its share of stops and starts over the last several years until Carnahan went to work on its development along with a script.
That now seems doused with news of anything from “scheduling” to “creative differences”. Whatever the case though, it also means, principally, more time to focus on X-Force, in addition to his forthcoming reboot of Indonesian action vehicle, The Raid which Carnahan is directing as well as producing with its first cast addition, Frank Grillo, via their War Party banner and XYZ Films.
From Columbia Pictures, Bad Boys For Life is currently on track to reunite its stars, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for the third outing of the franchise slated for a November 9, 2018. That may change with a new director now sought after, as well as a new script.
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