Bad Boys For Life finally gets a brand new 2020 release date. Considering how big the first two Bad Boys movies were, it’s no surprise that another installment is coming. It’s been over 20 years since the franchise began and kickstarted Will Smith’s career as an action movie star. The pairing of him and Martin Lawrence instantly showed promise, but it hasn’t been easy to get the gang back together over the years.
Bad Boys 3 was originally slated to hit theaters in early 2017, back when Joe Carnahan was looking to direct. Carnahan eventually left the project, which resulted in the movie losing its release date altogether. But, now that Sony Pictures has hired a new Bad Boys 3 directing duo, the hope has been for the film to start shooting later this year.
Sony Pictures has now dated Bad Boys For Life for January 17, 2020. If the film manages to enter production in 2018 or, at least, in early 2019, then it just might make its release date this time around. This slot will see the buddy cop flick hit theaters over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. It also marks a return to the earlier part of the year that allowed for the first film to be so successful.
While it’s definitely good news that Bad Boys 3 finally has a release date, the placement isn’t too great. January is primarily viewed as a dumping ground for movies. Still, releasing in that time frame does allow for studios to give movies smaller budgets and there is less competition, so it’s far too early to write off the date as a bad sign.
As of right now, Bad Boys For Life is easily the biggest movie scheduled to hit theaters in January 2020. There will be more projects that fill out the schedule, obviously, but it may actually be the films that come before 2020 that end up being its biggest competition. Star Wars: Episode IX and the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle both release in December 2019. If both perform anything like their predecessors, then they will surely have a lot of staying power at the box office.
Regardless of its release date, what Bad Boys For Life actually holds will be a major factor in determining if people show up. Story details are finally starting to surface, and with a few big roles left to cast, the franchise could benefit from grabbing a few more notable stars. It has a reported $100 million budget, after all, so it’ll need to generate plenty of excitement to warrant the once planned Bad Boys 4.
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Source: Sony Pictures
