Bad Boys For Life Is “Very, Very Close” To Entering Production, According To Will Smith

It’s going on 14 years since Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett last graced the silver screen, but in 2018, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s fast-talking narcotics officers will stage their comeback in the form of Bad Boys For Life.

Considered the “strongest of the trilogy,” we now have word that Joe Carnahan’s action threequel is “very, very close” to entering production. That’s according to Will Smith, who appeared on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his awards-tipped drama Collateral Beauty. Previously, Smith’s co-star Martin Lawrence hinted that filming on Bad Boys 3 would commence in March of next year, and though he refrained from confirming – or indeed denying – those claims, the actor simply stated: “It is very, very, very close. It’s very close.” It’s close, you guys.

News that Bad Boys For Life is on the verge of entering development will be all too familiar for those who have kept pace with the long-gestating threequel from day one, but even still, a Bad Boys reunion is closer now than it ever was before. With writer-director Joe Carnahan at the helm, we’ve not only caught wind that Lowry and Burnett’s third action spiel could be tethered with an R rating, but there’s also mention that Smith and Lawrence’s life-long buddies could be going up against multiple villains in 2018, as opposed to a sole, drug-smuggling nemesis.

Could that story bleed over into a fourth movie? When Sony first made headway on the dormant franchise, there were mooted reports that a Bad Boys 4 would be earmarked for 2020, but there’s been no update on that front just yet.

We ride together, we die together. Bad Boys For Life is expected to hit theaters on January 12, 2018.