As one of the final movies to open before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down theaters for nearly a year, Bad Boys for Life made quite the box office splash in early 2020, making over $426 million worldwide off a reported $90 million budget. With a performance like that, it’s no wonder Sony greenlit Bad Boys 4, which will begin production in the coming months. Ahead of that, it’s been revealed that Bad Boys for Life alum Vanessa Hudgens will re-team with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for this next installment.
Vanessa Hudgens starred in Bad Boys for Life as Kelly, the weapons expert for the Advanced Miami Metro Operations (A.M.M.O.), the team that Joe Panttoliano’s Captain Howard had working with Will Smith’s Mike Lowery and Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett. Now Deadline reports Hudgens will be back in action for Bad Boys 4, making her the first actor to be confirmed besides the two leads. Alas, with plot details being kept under wraps, we have no idea yet the circumstances in which Mike and Marcus will reunite with Kelly, other than safely assuming it’ll revolve around taking down some bad guys.
Bad Boys 4 is now one of four movies that Vanessa Hudgens on the way, with the next one, a documentary that she co-executive produced called Dead Hot: Season of the Witch, arriving sometime later this year. Joining Bad Boys 4 as undated feature films are fellow Sony release Downtown Owl, which has already been shot, and French Girl, which began production last November. Hudgens also has a voice role in the upcoming animated series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, which Netflix subscribers will eventually be able to watch alongside Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves.
Speaking of Netflix, much of Vanessa Hudgens’ film appearances over the last several years hail from the streaming platform. In addition to leading the three Princess Switch movies, she also starred in Polar, The Knight Before Christmas and Tick, Tick… Boom!, the later of which Hudgens was proud of adapting with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Garfield. Hudgens’ notable projects from earlier in her career include the High School Musical movies (duh), Sucker Punch, Spring Breakers, Grease Live! and the short-lived Powerless.
Behind the scenes, Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will reprise their helming duties for Bad Boys 4, making this their first movie since working on Batgirl, which was scrapped last August. The duo also executive produced and directed two episodes of the Marvel show Ms. Marvel, which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription. Chris Bremner, who co-wrote Bad Boys for Life with Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan, has returned to pen Bad Boys 4.
Bad Boys 4 hasn’t been slotted on the theatrical calendar, but once that information comes in, along with any other major updates on its progress, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, get acquainted with the 2023 new movie releases left to come out this year.
