Will Smith and Martin Lawrence made a remote appearance at CinemaCon to tease the highly anticipated fourth installment of the billion-dollar Bad Boys franchise.
Per Variety, for the past four weeks Smith and Lawrence have been busy filming the untitled fourth chapter and could not attend the Las Vegas conference in person. However, the Academy Award winner shared his thoughts and a joke with cinema owners via a video link:
“We’re hype, we’re excited […] We glad we not there because we here and they’re paying us to be here.”
The project has reunited the makers of the 2020 smash Bad Boys for Life, with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directing a script penned by Chris Bremner. Bad Boys 4 will also star Vanessa Hudgens, Paola Núnez, Alexander Ludwig, and Eric Dane.
For Smith, returning to the popular property may provide a welcome opportunity to transcend the ensuing scandal after he slapped comedy legend Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony. The toxic controversy saw his last film Emancipation become a rare misfire in the otherwise steady stream of hits. Smith’s reprisal of Mike Lowrey, might help him win back the hearts and minds of moviegoers.
After weeks of silence, Smith took to Instagram in March 2022 to post a written apology to Rock for striking him. He also expressed his regret to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his outburst. A year after the incident, Rock verbally hit back at Smith on stage during his Selective Outrage tour, stating his belief that the Oscar winner acted out the pain he felt over the complicated state of his marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith on him.
Time will tell if Bad Boys 4 has what it takes to redeem Smith in the eyes of moviegoers and restore his status as one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars.