Will Smith confirms Bad Boys 3 is “12 to 16 months” away

The actor spoke about the long-awaited sequel – which has been pencilled in for a February 17, 2017 release by Sony – during an interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1 Radio yesterday (October 5).

Smith didn’t actually reveal whether he would be reprising his role as Mike Lowrey alongside Martin Lawrence or whether he’d just be acting as a producer on the project. Start at the 18:34 mark in the video below to hear it with your own ears.

Bad Boys 3 is still well on track, according to Will Smith.

It’s not enough that he talked up Jared Leto’s supposedly incredible transformation for Suicide Squad, he’s now said that Bad Boys 3 is “very, very, very, very strong possibility you’ll be seeing a Bad Boys in the next twelve to sixteen months”. Bad Boys 4 will arrive on July 3, 2019.

According Digital Spy United Kingdom, it is still unconfirmed whether Joe Carnahan will move forward as director of the sequel.

Either way, I hope the upcoming film returns to the franchise’s roots. Bad Boys II cost way too much money and was more about Michael Bay-esque booms and explosions instead of focusing on a amusing script that unleashed Lawrence’s and Smith’s comedic talents and chemistry to the world. “Bad Boys 2” in 2003 had $130 million budget and grossed about $238 million globally.

If Sony’s Bad Boys had debuted in the modern era of cinema rather than 1995, we likely would have had a multi-film franchise by now.