REPORT
Bad Boys 3 & The Dark
Tower Set New 2017 Release
Dates
I
n today’s Hollywood, the established franchise is everything. If a studio doesn’t have a veritable arsenal of
sequels, prequels, or adaptations of proven material
to release each year, they’re in serious trouble. Luckily
for Sony, the company currently finds itself overflowing
with marketable properties, both this year and next. One
such anticipated sequel that had been penciled in for
early 2017 was Bad Boys 3, the third installment of the
action-comedy franchise starring Will Smith and Martin
Lawrence. Well, it turns out fans will have to wait a few
months longer than expected to get their next Michael
Bay-approved dose of breathtaking stunts, sarcastic
quips, big guns, and stuff blowing up. Last summer,
Sony officially scheduled Bad Boys 3 for a February 17,
2017 release, and even went as far as setting a July
3, 2019 release date for Bad Boys 4. While it’s still not
clear whether stars Smith and Lawrence will even be returning for the fourth film, Sony has now opted to move
Bad Boys 3 to June 2, 2017. The decision to set Bad
Boys 3 for summer seems motivated by logistics, as Sony’s recent progress with its long-gestating adaptation
of The Dark Tower necessitated a little shuffling in the
2017 schedule.The first Dark Tower film will take over
Bad Boys 3’s previous Presidents Day weekend spot,
although one could argue that releasing in June instead
of February is an upgrade in terms of profile. While the
original Bad Boys movie came out in April and was a bit
of a surprise hit for first-time feature director Bay, the
2003 follow-up, Bad Boys II, came out in July and went
on to rake in nearly $300 million worldwide. Then again,
the traditional opinion that February serves as a dumping ground for movies a studio has no confidence in may
now be changing thanks to the meteoric success enjoyed by Fox’s Deadpool. Still, opening an action blockbuster in June does seem like the safer bet, despite the
fact that the competition it faces will likely be much stiffer. With The A-Team’s Joe Carnahan now in the director’s chair — and Bay still on board as a producer — Bad
Boys 3 will serve as a test of just how bankable the team
of Smith and Lawrence is nowadays. Smith’s last big
blockbuster hit came via another threequel, with 2012’s
Men in Black 3. There’s a chance Suicide Squad could
reignite the fire of his career, but the jury is still out as
to how well he will be received in the role of Deadshot.
Lawrence, meanwhile, hasn’t headlined a film since Big
Mommas: Like Father, Like Son in 2011, so this will certainly be a return to action for the comedian. Does the
duo of Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett still have what
it takes to clean up the streets of Miami, while also making bank at the box office? The world will find out next
summer. Bad Boys 3 hits theaters on June 2, 2017. Bad
Boys 4 debuts on July 3, 2019.
24 | BOOM