After Will Smith‘s slap of comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, there were multiple reports that studios were pumping the breaks on a bunch of his feature film projects including “Fast & Loose,” “Bright 2,” and “Bad Boys 4.”
However, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman disputed that the latter film is in jeopardy while speaking with Deadline, stating the “Bad Boys” sequel is actually still in active development calling the report “inaccurate.”
“No. That was inaccurate,” Rothman told Deadline. “That movie’s been in development and still is. There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving.”
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Rothman also chimed in with his own thoughts on the slap and believes that Smith’s apology/regret is “genuine.”
“That was a very unfortunate thing that happened, 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.”
It’s worth mentioning that Smith’s “Bad Boys For Life” was the biggest Hollywood hit of 2020. The R-rated action film took the top domestic spot and earned an impressive $426.5 million globally on a budget of $90 million. So, there is a big money aspect here. The post-Michael Bay installment was helmed by the duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who are busy within the superhero genre tackling “Moon Knight,” “Ms. Marvel,” and shooting the solo “Batgirl” movie that features Michael Keaton‘s version of Batman. It’s assumed when the film ultimately moves forward Sony will wait for those two to return to the director’s chair.
“Bad Boys 4” does have a screenwriter with Chris Bremner assigned to write it back in early 2020 but we don’t know how far along that script is. While it’s unclear when Miami’s finest will return, it sounds like Sony are ready to work with Smith sooner rather than later and aren’t as ready to distance themselves from the action star.