‘We have at least one more’: Martin Lawrence Confirms Bad Boys 4 is Happening Despite Will Smith Oscars Backlash
Will Smith, the Oscar-winning winning and globally admired star made the headlines on the 27th of March, 2022. The reason behind the occurrence was an untoward incident Smith initiated at the 94th Academy Awards. Will Smith had walked on stage during Chris Rock’s presentation at the award ceremony and slapped the comedian on live TV. Chris Rock had made a joke regarding Will’s wife Jada Smith. This seemed to have triggered Smith’s shocking response.
The shock waves of the incident have fizzled out quickly, with people labeling it as ‘staged’ and ‘fake.’ Regardless, the act had negatively impacted Will’s reputation with fans calling out the actor as ‘insensitive’ and ‘over the top.‘ However, with the 4th sequel to Smith’s hit franchise Bad Boys being confirmed. Smith’s Bad Boys costar Martin Lawrence in an interview said Will Smith’s slap at the Oscars won’t kill the development of a fourth “Bad Boys” movie.
The future of the Bad Boys franchise
Martin Lawrence was reported as saying, “We got one more at least,” implying the future of the duo (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence)’s action franchise could well extend beyond the next installment. Speaking about the start of their journey together, with the 1st Bad Boys movie in 1995. Lawrence says, “It was big, For us to come together and prove that we can deliver, and we can pull people into the box office—that two Black stars, two sitcom stars, could make money at the box office [was huge]. I didn’t go to college, so I felt TV was my college years. I felt with movies, I had graduated; it was just different.”
The franchise made its way back to theaters in January 2020 with Bad Boys for Life. Which earned $426 million and managed to outgross the previous two movies in the franchise combined. The movie was one of the last theatrical hits before the pandemic forced to shut the cinema halls. Reports had confirmed as Bad Boys for Life was still playing that, Sony was moving forward with a fourth Bad Boys movie to be written by screenwriter Chris Bremner and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
Is Will Smith, a part of Bad Boys 4?
While Lawrence has been reassuring of Smith’s reprisal in the next Bad Boys movie. There is still no official confirmation, regarding the same. The Oscar-winning actor (Smith), is banned from the Academy for 10 years, owing to the Chris Rock incident.
Smith’s slap at Chris Rock at the event had led to him dropping out of several projects. Apple is expected to delay the release of the Smith-starring slavery drama Emancipation to 2023. Raising the speculations of fans regarding whether or not Sony would pull the plug on Bad Boys 4.
Bad Boys for Life is available to stream, on Netflix.
