Bad Boys 4 Potential Title Revealed by Director

The Bad Boys are headed back to the big screen, with a fourth movie in the saga currently scheduled to debut in theaters next summer. Bad Boys 4 will see the return of franchise stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, as well as directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and fans have definitely been excited about the possibilities surrounding the new installment. According to a new interview with Fallah and El Arbi, even the film’s title has some interesting possibilities. 

“Well, you know, the title that we like – I don’t know that they’re going to go for it yet – would be like Bad Boys Ride or Die because Bad Boys 4 Life is already taken. We didn’t know there was going to be a fourth one, you know?” El Arbi told The Playlist‘s The Discourse podcast. “But yeah, what’s going to happen in this one is, I think that there’s going to be way more comedy. The third one had the dramatic tone. With this one, it’s really our purpose to get people laughing and having a good time in the theater. Martin [Lawrence] is going to a higher level in this one. This is the culmination of the Marcus Burnett arc.”

What Is Bad Boys 4 About?

Plot details are currently under wraps about the fourth Bad Boys film, outside of the notion that it will follow the ongoing adventures of Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence). The ensemble cast will also include Vanessa Hudgens as Kelly, Alexander Ludwig as Dorn, Paola Núñez as Captain Rita Secada, John Salley as Fletcher, and Tasha Smith as a recast Theresa Burnett. Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhea Seehorn, and Joyner Lucas have also been cast in currently-unknown roles.

“We had a great experience on the first one, both through the development process with Tom Rothman [chair of Sony] and his team, and then through the editing process and filming process… We put together, along with their help, a movie that’s very satisfying for the audience, and we’d like to do it again, and I think they’d like us to do it again. We’re currently working on a draft for the fourth one,” franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer said during a 2020 interview.

Is Bad Boys 4 Still Happening After the Will Smith Slap?

After the altercation between Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, which led to Smith getting temporarily banned from the AMPAS, some had wondered if Bad Boys 4 would fall out of development — but we now know that’s not the case.

“[Bad Boys 4] That movie’s been in development and still is. There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving,” Sony president Tom Rothman revealed in the summer of 2022. “That was a very unfortunate thing that happened [at the Oscars], and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years, and I know him to be a good person. That was an example of a very good person having a very bad moment, in front of the world. I believe his apology and regret is genuine, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption.”

Are you excited for Bad Boys 4? What do you think of its potential title? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!