Ice Cube Drops Major Update on Friday 4 Plans

Friday 4 seems to be gaining some traction at Warner Bros. Pictures, according to Ice Cube. 

Cube recently did an interview on rapper/reality show star Flavor Flav’s “Flavor of the Week” SiriusXM show, where he gave fans an update on Friday 4 – and for once, it was something they wanted to hear: 

“We’re working on it. We finally got some traction with Warner Bros.,” Ice Cube explained. “They have new leadership, my man Mike De Luca, who used to be at New Line when I first started, when I first did the first Friday and Players Club and All About the Benjamins. Mike De Luca was there…So, now he’s running Warner Bros. And him and my man Michael Gruber was like, ‘Yo, what the fuck is going on with “Friday”? Man, let’s get this shit back online.’”

Michael De Luca was President of Production for New Line Cinemas (the Warner Bros. subsidiary) when Cube first launched the Friday franchise back in 1995. De Luca is credited for leading New Line to some of the biggest hit films of the mid-90s, overseeing Friday, Austin Powers, Rush Hour, and Wesley Snipes’ Blade, as well as launching award-worthy directorial talent with  Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, Tony Kaye’s American History X, and David Fincher’s Se7en. During 2020, De Luca became chairman of MGM Motion Picture Group, but quickly jumped the fence to return to Warner Bros. in 2022, when he took on the role of co-CEO alongside Pamela Abdy. 

Almost a year ago, ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian sat down with Ice Cube and asked about the stalled progress on Friday 4. Cube indicated he had no leverage over the project, joking  “You know somebody?… maybe they can help us out.” 

That comment came after Cube had previously indicated that the shifting eras of leadership at Warner Bros., plus rights issues with the Friday franchise, made it impossible to predict when Friday 4 (or “Last Friday”) could happen: 

“I don’t know. Warner Bros. is weird right now,” Cube said when asked about Last Friday in 2022. “I don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing. We’d love to have it back. I think it’s going to be close to a time when we get it back. So, we’ll either wait for that time, or we’ll keep trying to convince them that they need to let us control the movie. It’s my movie, but they have distribution control.” 

With De Luca back, and allegedly showing renewed interest, it may be time to start betting on Friday 4 actually getting filmed. The sequel has the tragic springboard of franchise star John Witherspoon having passed away in 2019. Witherspoon was a foundational member of both Friday and The Boondocks animated series, and it’s a big challenge for either project to continue without him. In the case of Friday 4: Ice Cube’s character Craig could definitely have new views on life, family, and community after his father Willie (Witherspoon) has died. 

We’ll keep you updated on the status of Friday 4. 

Source: Variety