By the time the third Bad Boys movie, titled Bad Boys for Life, hits theaters, it will have been 15 years since the second film was released and director Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, Smokin’ Aces) knows there’s a tremendous amount of pressure to get it right.
“Unless you’re Toy Story 3, usually third ones aren’t the strongest,” he tells io9-Gizmodo. “I think this one will be the strongest of the trilogy thus far.”
The Bad Boys for Life director went on to tease the film, which will shoot next year:
“There’s a lot of funny sh*t in this movie, and there’s also a very mysterious, but tonally spot-on story that I think is kind of perfect for where we are in this day and age, where the guys are and reflectively, a very modern take on these guys. It’s kind of what becomes of Bad Boys when they’re not boys anymore.”
Unlike recent sequels to films from many years ago (like Jurassic World and Independence Day: Resurgence), Bad Boys for Life isn’t passing the torch to anyone else to take over the series.
“There’s only one Will Smith and one Martin Lawrence,” Carnahan said. “You can’t replace those guys and I wouldn’t want to be involved if it wasn’t Will and Martin. They are that franchise.”
The original Bad Boys was released in 1995 and it grossed a relatively tame $65 million, but when Bad Boys II was released in 2003, the sequel brought in a worldwide total of $273 million.
Jerry Bruckheimer will once again produce the film which features a screenplay by David Guggenheim (Safe House). Bad Boys for Life will be released in theaters on January 12, 2018.
