Bad Boys 4: Everything We Know

The Bad Boys franchise is coming out with a fourth installment – let’s take a look at everything we already know.

Bad Boys apparently really are for life as it seems that this action-packed franchise isn’t ending anytime soon with SonyPictures’ Bad Boys 4 already in production. The series centered around detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett of the Miami PD has already produced three blockbuster films that have grossed over $840 million as well as a spinoff television show, L.A.’s Finest, making it one of the most successful buddy-cop action-comedy series in history. The most recent film, Bad Boys for Life, was one of the last movies to hit theaters before the pandemic shut them all down and was able to be a critical and monetary success – so why would the franchise stop now?

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (Lowery and Burnett) recently announced that a fourth film will be coming to theaters and that they’ll both be returning to the buddy-cop franchise. This is music to the ears of fans of the series since Bad Boys for Life left several loose ends and potential plot-lines for the detectives to follow and adding another movie to the franchise is the perfect way to address them. So, all of that said, let’s take a further look into everything we know about Bad Boys 4.

Plot

While Smith and Lawrence confirmed that the movie is absolutely happening (and is already in production) the announcement is still relatively new and details regarding the plot haven’t been released to the public yet. In other words, nobody besides the people working on the movie know the plot. That said, based off of the information and loose ends that occurred at the end of Bad Boys for Life we can make a couple of educated guesses.

The plot that makes the most sense for a sequel would most likely see Mike and Marcus working on a new case with AMMO with a side-plot of Mike mending/working on his relationship with his son. Fans will remember that the last movie ended with Mike and Marcus being put in charge of AMMO with Mike visiting his son, Armando, in prison and offering him a chance at redemption, so this plot would follow up on those loose ends. Again, this is all speculation, but it would be odd for the previous movie to give such heavy leads and them completely dismiss them.

Cast

Again, the fourth film was only recently announced so there aren’t a surplus of details yet. Stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will assuredly return as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, with Eric Dane (known for Euphoria and Grey’s Anatomy) playing the movie’s villain. Actor Ioan Gruffudd (known for Fantastic 4) has also been cast in an undisclosed role and Tasha Smith has been cast to replace Theresa Randle as Marcus Burnett’s wife. Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn also signed on for an undisclosed role.

Despite the cast not having a long confirmed list, just like with the plot we can speculate about who may or may not appear in the film. Since Mike and Marcus were put in charge of AMMO it can be assumed that the other members of the group would return as well, meaning that Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, and Jacob Scipio could all easily show up. There’s also the possibility of Paola Núñez returning as the newly promoted Captain Rita Secada, as well as a small but still realistic chance of Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba making cameo appearances as Sid Burnett and Nancy McKenna from the spinoff L.A.’s Finest.

Will it be effected by the SAG/WGA Strikes?

Unlike a lot of movies being made, Bad Boys 4 is thought to be immune to potential strikes, as the film is thought to have wrapped in mid-June. It was picketed by the WGA, but as the script was completed before the strike, the film is thought to be on-track.

Everything Else

Fans assuredly will want to know when they can expect to see Miami’s finest detectives back on the big-screen, but unfortunately Bad Boys 4 doesn’t have an official release date yet. Not to mention, Bad Boys 4 is not the official title since the film has not released the official title yet and we shouldn’t expect to even see a trailer for quite some time. Will Smith announced the movie via an Instagram video with Martin Lawrence back on January 31 and gave a small update at CinemaCon where he confirmed that the crew was already 4 weeks into filming.

The movie will be directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (they took over for OG director Michael Bay after the first two films – although he had a cameo in the third film) and will be written by Chris Bremner, the same man who penned Bad Boys for Life. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced all the other movies is back too. Since filming is now several weeks underway, fans can presumably expect a trailer by the end of the year, but until Smith and Lawrence decide to share any more information with the public, that’s all fans currently have in terms of what to know about the upcoming fourth movie. Even so, it doesn’t diminish the hype factor at all and it certainly looks like the Bad Boys franchise will ultimately be crossing the $1 billion mark once the fourth film hits theaters. People love to watch Bad Boys movies, and who can blame them?