Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a box office hit, now Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are discussing what they need to return for Bad Boys 5.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a box office hit, earning $104.6 million in its opening weekend – and covering its $100M budget. Naturally, that success has already sparked a conversation about if (when?) Bad Boys 5 is coming. In one of their recent press tour interviews, Bad Boys stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence revealed some conditions for the Bad Boys 4 sequel.
Will Smith joked(?) that Bad Boys 5 is going to lean a lot more on the younger cast of characters the series has introduced:
“Well, these younger actors are going to need to do more of the stunts, that’s for sure,” Smith told EW.
On a more serious note, Smith expressed that the Bad Boys franchise has grown into an entire universe of characters, with its own mythos and history. So long as the creative team finds good stories to tell in that world, they’ll keep doing it, but sequels for sequels’ sake isn’t enough:
“It is a world and characters that are just an absolute joy to be with. In a movie theater with Mike and Marcus, it just feels like home,” Smith said. “So, as long as there’s a reason – I never wanted to be one of those dudes who make sequels just because people will go. I want to make them because there is something to say and the characters have a place that they’re developing to that will be interesting and fun to watch and maybe even a little helpful.”
In that sense, the only question Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have to ask themselves is: “Is there something that can happen in these characters’ lives that is worth asking people to go to a movie theater for?” Smith asked. “And with this movie, the answer is a resounding yes.”
Martin Lawrence was in perfect agreement with his co-star, saying, “We’ll have to see,” about Bad Boys 5. “You know I never say never, but it also has to make sense. If the fans ask for it, you know we could be back… We always have so much fun making these movies… Will and I have a great time working together, so as long as the fans want it and the demand is there, I’ll keep trying to give them what they want.”
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is getting a lot of praise for its story, which sees detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) having to confront serious questions of manhood, mortality, and legacy, as middle-age concerns start to affect them both. There was even some subtext about Smith and his life challenges over the last few years. Bad Boys 4 also proves that even minor characters in the franchise can be big players that deliver (the AMMO unit, Reggie), so the Smith and Lawrence can indeed have an entire ensemble to work with.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is now in theaters.
