While Michael Bay originally expressed interest in directing Bad Boys For Life, just as he’d done with the previous two movies, ultimately it was Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who handled helming duties on the threequel (though Bay still got to contribute). But long before Bad Boys For Life came out, the directing duo was reportedly hired to tackle the long-awaited Beverly Hills Cop 4. So is that still the plan?
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah recently stopped by the ReelBlend podcast to talk about Bad Boys For Life, and with the recently-announced news that Bad Boys 4 is in the works, the hosts asked if these men are leaning towards making that movie or Beverly Hills Cop 4 next. This was the duo’s response:
Bilall Fallah: Well, if we had to choose between both of them, that would be a very difficult choice. Luckily, Jerry Bruckheimer is producing both of the movies. So, he should have to choose.Adil El Arbi: We love Mike and Marcus. We love all the characters. So we are ready to make Bad Boys 4. At the same time, we are also like gigantic fans of Beverly Hills Cop and Eddie Murphy, of course. So it's a… it's a dilemma. We gotta make both.
Rather than learn from Sony execs ahead of time that Bad Boys 4 is in development, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah heard the news at the same time as the rest of us. Not only that, but they haven’t had any discussions about directing Bad Boys 4, hence the dilemma since they’re already signed onto Beverly Hills Cop 4.
If they had their way, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah would direct both Bad Boys 4 and Beverly Hills Cop 4. However, as they noted, it’s ultimately up to producer Jerry Bruckheimer to decide which one they’ll work on. Then there’s the question of if Bad Boys 4 will be fast-tracked. If it is, then it’s possible that because Beverly Hills Cop 4 is already more of a sure thing for Arbi and Fallah, they’ll have to focus on that and make peace with someone else filling in for them on Bad Boys 4.
But hey, neither Beverly Hills Cop 4 nor Bad Boys 4 have release dates yet, so for now, anything’s possible. Granted, Eddie Murphy previously said that production on Beverly Hills Cop 4 will begin once Coming 2 America has wrapped, and cameras on that sequel stopped rolling last November. So regardless, one can logically assume that it won’t be too much longer before Beverly Hills Cop 4 gets underway, whereas Bad Boys 4 has a long road ahead to reaching principal photography.
Still, Adil El Arbi also mentioned that he and Bilall Fallah have waited a long time to work on Beverly Hills Cop 4, so don’t think that project isn’t incredibly important for them. As Arbi put it:
We always wanted to do Beverly Hills Cop 4, and Eddie Murphy's just, you know, he’s a genius. He’s the Don. He’s the Godfather. And, we did this homage to the ‘90s with Bad Boys. So it would be cool to do the homage to the ‘80s with Beverly Hills Cop.
While Bad Boys fans had wait nearly two decades between the second and third movies, there isn’t expected to be nearly that long of a time lag between the third and fourth movies. That being said, since National Treasure 3’s Chris Bremner has only just started writing the script, unless he churns that thing out quickly, I imagine we’re in for at least a three year wait for Bad Boys 4, especially since it’ll take some doing to ensure Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s schedules don’t conflict.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any major updates concerning Bad Boys 4 and Beverly Hills Cop 4. For now, keep track of this movies that are set to arrive this year with our 2020 release schedule.
