Bad Boys actor Martin Lawrence has weighed in on the future of the franchise in the wake of co-star Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
Recent research has shown that Interview with EbonyActor Jeremy Irons dismissed the notion that plans for fourth season were canceled by the slap. Bad BoysFilm, first released in 2020. “We got one more at least,”He said so.
Lawrence’s comments were in line with those of Sony chairman and CEO Tom Rothman, who said in a recent interview with Deadline that the idea the brakes have been pumped on the sequel is “inaccurate.”
“That movie’s been in development and still is. There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving,”Rothman. “That was a very unfortunate thing that happened, and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years, and I know him to be a good person. That was an example of a very good person having a very bad moment, in front of the world. I believe his apology and regret is genuine, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption.”
Michael Bay directs the original Bad BoysThe two detectives Marcus Burnett (Lawrence), Mike Lowrey and Smith introduced viewers to them. They are both hip detectives who seek to protect a victim to a crime while also investigating a case involving stolen heroin from their evidence storage room. The buddy cop pic was released in April 1995. It grossed more than $141M and sparked sequels. Bad Boys II2003 Bad Boys for Life (2020).
Lawrence observed that Lawrence was not surprised that the first Bad BoysThe film was a career-changer for both actors, and it has a legacy that is equally important today. “It was big,”Ebony was told by he. “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].”
Lawrence will next appear in the thriller MindcageWith John Malkovich, and many more. And while Smith was banned from attending the Oscars and other Film Academy functions for 10 years in the aftermath of that controversial Oscars night—which saw him take home Best Actor for King Richard after assaulting Rock on stage—his next project will be the Apple action-thriller EmancipationFrom director Antoine Fuqua.