“I was a little hot because they had took so long”: Ice Cube’s ‘Friday 4’ Finally Gets a Positive Update After Nearly 25 Years But Several OG Cast Members Are Dead
Rapper-songwriter-actor Ice Cube co-wrote and starred in 1995’s buddy comedy movie, Friday, which followed unemployed friends who face troubles after being indebted to a local drug dealer while competing with a neighborhood bully. The movie, directed by F. Gary Gary, starred Chris Tucker, Nia Long, Regina King, Anna Maria Horsford, and more.
The movie, upon its release, received positive comments from critics as well as the audience, which went ahead to appreciate the writing, performances, and comedic sequences in the movie. Sequel 2000’s Next Friday and 2002’s Friday After Next followed Friday, and unlike the original movie, they ended up receiving negative reviews from critics. But now, there is good news for Friday fans.
Ice Cube’s promising update on Friday 4
In his recent appearance on Flavor Flav’s SiriusXM Show, Flavor of the Week, Ice Cube was asked about any updates on the fourth installment of Cult Classic Friday. The actor-rapper-songwriter said (via Deadline)
We’re working on it. We finally got some traction with Warner Bros. They have a new leader, my man Mike De Luca, who used to be at New Line when I first started, when I first did the first ‘Friday’ and ‘Players Club’ and ‘All About the Benjamins’. Mike De Luca was there. So, now he’s running Warner Bros., and he and my man Michael Gruber were like, ‘Yo, what the f**k is going on with ‘Friday’? Man, let’s get this s**t back online.’
Warner Bros. went on to purchase New Line Cinema, where all three Friday movies were produced. The actor, however, did acknowledge the fact that three cast members had already passed away before they could work on the fourth part. He said,
You know I was a little hot because they took so long. John Witherspoon, Tommy Lister Jr., and Anthony Johnson passed away. I’m like, “Man, we keep losing people, and y’all keep di***ng around, not doing the movie the way it needed to be done.
Ice Cube, who co-wrote the first part with DJ Pooh, spoke about the sequel back in 2022 on an episode of Drink Champs when Noreaga joked that he wanted to be an intern on Friday. Cube said that if he could get it off, he was trying to get the rights from Warner Bros.
The artist shared with The Wrap in 2015 that making another Friday movie is his dream, adding that he thinks everyone who was involved in three movies is also waiting to work on the fourth.
Ice Cube urged Warner Bros. to ‘give’ him the rights to Friday film franchise
Back in 2022, the rapper-actor wanted Warner Bros. to give him full rights to the Friday film franchise, which, after they purchased New Line Cinema, was transferred to them. He appeared on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin podcast and had rejected the idea to buy the rights. He said at the time,
I don’t know. Warner Bros. is weird right now. I don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing. We’d love to have it back. I think it’s going to be close to a time when we get it back. So, we’ll either wait for that time or we’ll keep trying to convince them that they need to let us control the movie. It’s my movie, but they have distribution control.
When asked if he would pay for the rights, Ice Cube rejected the idea by stating that he was not going to do that. He added that the studios need to give him the rights, and they’re going to make money, clarifying that he is not going to pay for his stuff.
Cube mentioned that the studios should do the right thing and let them turn the franchise into more money and also make fans of the franchise happy. During the episode, he revealed that the studios rejected his two Friday scripts.
Friday is available to rent or purchase on Apple TV, Prime Video, or Google Play Movies.
