Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Confirm ‘Bad Boys 4’ Is In The Works: It’s ‘Official’

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The boys are back together again! Will Smith, 54, and Martin Lawrence, 57, officially announced the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise on Jan. 31, via a hilarious Instagram video. “IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME!”, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum captioned the post. During the clip, Will drove to Martin’s home so that they could deliver the announcement together. Once the 57-year-old comedian opened the door he asked 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.”

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Toward the end of the clip, Martin and Will jokingly realized that they shouldn’t have called the last film Bad Boys For Life, given that it was only the third movie and now there will be a fourth. After Will held up four fingers, he said, “We shouldn’t have called it that, though. The 3 was the ‘e,'” and then exclaimed, “But this is Bad Boys 4. It’s official!” Martin then chimed in, “well we did four… but it’s still Bad Boys For Life!”

After the Emancipation star shared the clip with his 62.7 million Instagram followers, many of his fans and celebrity pals took to the comments section to react to the news. “Let’s go !!!!!”, DJ Khaled, 47, wrote, while Nick Cannon, 42, added, “Call it BAD BOYS 4 EVER!!!” Further down in the comments, comedian B. Simone noted, “For lifeeeeeeee [sic] let’s gooooooo [sic].” Many of the fans made sure to pitch a reunion on the fourth film with Gabrielle Union, 50, who appeared in Bad Boys II in 2003. “We need a plot twist with @gabunion,” one admirer wrote, while another agreed and said, “AND GABRIEL UNION BETTER BE IN IT WILLARD!”

Will and Martin first starred in Bad Boys nearly 30 years ago in 1995, and later reprised their roles for the film’s second installment in 2003. However, it wasn’t until 2020 that the duo appeared back on the big screen together for Bad Boys For Life 17 years later. Some of the franchise’s other stars over the years include Joe Pantoliano, 71, Téa Leoni, 56, Michael Bay, 57, Vanessa Hudgens, 34, and more. At the time of the first movie’s release it was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in 1996 in the Best On-Screen Duo category.

As many know, the news of Bad Boys 4 comes nearly one year after Will famously slapped Chris Rock, 57, at the 2022 Oscars. Following Chris making a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, 51, Will ran up on the stage and laid a hand on the 57-year-old comedian during the show’s live broadcast. As a result, the father-of-three was banned from the prestigious awards ceremony for a total of 10 years. Notably, Will has since publicly and personally apologized to Chris for the confrontation. In recent months, however, Will has been occupied promoting his latest film, Emancipation, which was released on Dec. 9, 2022. He stars in the film alongside Hustle actor Ben Foster and newcomer Mustafa Shakir.