What was already announced in 2020 is finally official: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will shoot a fourth “Bad Boys” part. After fans had been looking forward to a new installment in the franchise three years ago, it has faced a number of obstacles.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will co-star in a fourth Bad Boys movie. Sony Pictures confirmed this in an Instagram post. The directors of the predecessor, “Bad Boys For Life”, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, will also return for the new part, it is said. According to US media reports, the project is in the early pre-production phase. No details about the plot have been announced yet.

Both Smith and Lawrence happily shared the news of their next film with their fans on Instagram. The two actors first appeared as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett in 1995’s Bad Boys. The action flick was a huge hit in theaters and has so far had two sequels, 2003’s Bad Boys II and 2020’s Bad Boys for Life. While the first two films were directed by Michael Bay, Chris Bremner, who who wrote the screenplay for the third film, is back in the game.

Part four had already been announced in 2020 but struggled with some obstacles. Among other things, because of Will Smith’s scandal at the Oscars last year, the project is said to have been put on hold. The actor had slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the awards ceremony.

After the scandal, Will Smith initially retired and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy had also banned Smith from the awards ceremony and other events for the next ten years. Now the 54-year-old is apparently returning to the limelight. Rumor has it that Walt Disney Pictures wants to sign the disgraced star for “Aladdin 2”. At least that’s what “The US-Sun” claims to have learned from an unnamed insider. Smith’s last film “Emancipation” was released on Apple TV in December. He had turned off the slave drama before the Oscar scandal.