How Bad Boys For Life became the biggest box office hit of Hollywood’s lost year

As is often the case, “Bad Boys 3” found itself stuck in development hell for several years. Between the comings and goings of screenwriters and Will Smith’s busy schedule as one of the most in-demand leading men in the business, it’s proving difficult to get all the pieces together in time. However, more than a decade after Bad Boys II hit theaters, optimism persists.

“I think so. Yes,” Lawrence said in 2014 when Conan O’Brien asked him if “Bad Boys 3” would still happen. “I just spoke to (producer) Jerry Bruckheimer yesterday and he said this is real, they’re working on the script, they’re getting close and everything looks good.” Earlier that year, Bruckheimer explained that a lot of things were down to bad timing.

“We’d get Sony really excited about making the movie, and then Will (Smith) would go out and shoot two movies. And then Will would come back and be really excited about it, and Sony would say, ‘Well, maybe this isn’t the right time for this.’ And then ‘Ride’ came out Along” and it became a huge success, and now they are all excited about making the movie, but Will is doing something else.

As Marcus Burnett might say, “it got real” when Sony announced in 2015 that both “Bad Boys 3” and “Bad Boys 4” had release dates set for 2017 and 2019, respectively. Six years after the sequel officially entered development, the studio was doubling in size. However, things stopped again. Lawrence, speaking in 2017, cast doubt that a sequel would ever come to fruition.

“I don’t think we’ll get a movie, not with the way everything is going. Will is doing another movie, and I don’t think that will happen.”