Maybe it’s just something that has to happen every eight years, but according to THR, Columbia has confirmed that they’re working on a new Bad Boys film, to follow up the 1995 and 2003 Michael Bay movies that starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The studio has set Peter Craig (Ben Affleck’s upcoming The Town) to write the screenplay, although at the moment neither of the main stars or the director has a deal to return to the Bad Boys franchise.
However, to make sure Columbia know they’re not doing something completely pointless, all of the players have said they’d be willing to come back if the right story and terms can be sorted out. However it’s actually quite tough to imagine it happening, as Bad Boys II cost $130 million to make and only grossed $273 million around the world. Although that doesn’t sound too bad, a third film is likely to be even more expensive and involve both Smith and Bay, whos stars have both continued to rise since the first two films, wanting a decent chunk of the ticket receipts (producer Jerry Bruckheimer doesn’t come cheap either), meaning the new film would have to make an awful lot of money to be profitable.
Although it’s a movie we wouldn’t mind seeing, a third Bad Boys film is going to have to jump an awful lot of hurdles to get to the big screen, so don’t be surprised if this never gets past the script stage.