‘Bad Boys’ Movie News: Joe Carnahan In Talks To Direct Third Film In Michael Bay Franchise

It was bound to happen at some point. Bad Boys was a huge coming out party for Michael Bay back in 1995, and brought in a solid $140 million worldwide back when that was a big deal. Bad Boys II continued the franchise’s success in 2003, earning over $270 million. Since the second film’s release, the idea of a Bad Boys 3 has always been out there, waiting for the right moment to drop. Obviously, Bay went on to direct bigger things, and when Transformers hit theaters in 2007, he found himself locked down indefinitely.

Since then, talk of a Bad Boys 3 has largely gone away, only to pop up as recently as late last year. While on Conan last August, Martin Lawrence discussed the project’s progress (via Rolling Out).

“I just talked to [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer yesterday and he said it’s real, they’re working on the script, they’re getting close, and it all looks good.”

It’s been a good ten months since Lawrence’s interview, and Bad Boys 3 seemed to have gone nowhere since then. So is the project dead? Not yet. Now, with Sony Pictures slowly building up its cache of franchises, it’s revisiting Bad Boys for a potential new sequel.

According to Deadline, Joe Carnahan, writer and director of such films as The Grey and The A-Team, is in talks to take over as writer and director. Safe House writer David Guggenheim has already written a strong draft, so Carnahan wouldn’t need to work on a Bad Boys 3 script from scratch.

So when could we expect this flick to start shooting? It looks like the film’s producers are pushing for this to be Will Smith’s next movie right after he finishes up Suicide Squad, so they’re rushing this one out the door as quickly as humanly possible.

Obviously, Joe Carnahan will have some pretty big shoes to fill with Bad Boys 3. Love him or hate him, Michael Bay is one of the more successful directors working in Hollywood today, and not everyone can live up to the finesse of the visual storytelling used in his films. Luckily, Carnahan is no novice to directing. Between such films as The Grey and The A-Team, the director has had his fair share of experience in the action department.

What are your thoughts on this Bad Boys threequel hitting theaters soon? Are you excited to see Smith and Lawrence back on the big screen, or is it too little, too late? Lastly, do you think Joe Carnahan is the right man for the job? Let us know your thoughts below!

[Image Credits: Next Miami, Cinechew]