Hollywood stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence took to the social media streets on Tuesday 31 January to confirm that Bad Boys 4 is officially in early pre-production.

The actors will once again reprise the roles of Miami narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett for the latest instalment of the popular action-comedy franchise.

ALSO READ: Golden Globes: Eddie Murphy takes epic ‘slap’ at Will Smith [watch]

‘Bad Boys 4’: Perfect ‘skop, skiet en donner’ therapy for Will Smith

It has been almost a year since Smith gave Oscars host Chris Rock a fat slap across the face for his comment about Smith’s actress wife Jada Pinkett Smith baldness caused by alopecia.

The King Richard actor has paid a high price for THAT slap, which resulted in Smith being being banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years. Divorce rumours did the rounds and he even headed to Mumbai to spent some quiet time with his spiritual guru Sadhguru to “slap” his inner-self into shape.

The gritty historical slave drama Emancipation, in which Smith plays the emotionally taxing role of a real-life runaway slave who joins the Union Army to fight his oppressors during the American Civil War, followed at the end of last year.

ALSO READ: From Hollywood to Bollywood: Is Will Smith on a spiritual journey in India?

A proper “skop, skiet en donner” movie like Bad Boys 4, might just be the thing to lighten The Pursuit of Happyness actor’s mood. Bring it on, Bad Boys!

ALSO READ: Where there’s a Will…Is ‘Emancipation’ Smith’s Oscars comeback?

WATCH: Will Smith on mission

An upbeat Smith (that’s the Will we know!) uploaded a video onto Instagram of him driving to Lawrence’s home while grooving to Nelly, P Diddy and Murphy Lee’s Bad Boys II soundtrack cut Shake Ya Tailfeather from the Bad Boys II soundtrack.

Once the 57-year-old comedian opened the door of his $45 million (about R766 million) Beverly Hills mansion, he asks his co-star:

“It’s about that time?” To which Will replied: “It’s official ya’ll! It’s official, Bad Boys 4 life, baby.”

‘Bad Boys’ and good money

According to Deadline, before the COVID-pandemic brought Tinseltown to a standstill in March 2020, the third movie, Bad Boys for Life, made more than $426 million at the worldwide box office Altogether, the Bad Boys franchise have earned an incredible $840.7 million at the global box office.

Why the long wait?

After the original Bad Boys was released in 1995, eight long years passed until the sequel Bad Boys 2 hit the big screen in 2003.

In 2015, Sony Pictures announced plans for the production of a third and even a fourth movie. But various pre-production issues involving the directors, screenwriters, and cast delayed the process, and so the primary focus eventually became Bad Boys for Life, as reported by Screenrant.

Sony Pictures was officially developing Bad Boys 4, which they confirmed the day Bad Boys For Life was released in theatres. The film remained stuck in production hell with rumours doing the rounds that Sony delayed Bad Boys 4 due to the controversy surrounding the Oscars slap.

Sony however denied any connection between the delay in production and the so-called “Slapgate”.

‘Bad Boys 4’: Possible plot

Bad Boys 3 ended with a twist…

Armando Armas is Mike Lowrey’s son. Before partnering up with Marcus, Mike worked undercover in Mexico and formed a romantic relationship with the “stone-cold killer” Isabel Aretas.

In Bad Boys for Life’s climax, Isabel falls to her death and Mike reveals the truth to Armando. Bad Boys For Life‘s post-credits scene teases a possible storyline for Bad Boys 4, as Mike informs his son about a potential opportunity to repay his debts to society.

If Screenrant’s prediction is anything to go by, Bad Boys 4 might just involve Armando working with the AMMO task force, with Smith and Lawrence stepping into the buddy cop roles, of course.

Watch: ‘Bad Boys 4’ Teaser Trailer

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