This shit just got real again... BAD BOYS 3 is a go!

By Matt Holmes /

The Hollywood Reporter ran an article Sunday night (I know, I know... we are a little late) with the news that a Bad Boys 3 had officially become a priority at Columbia. Hot newcomer Peter Craig (he has wrote the script for the latest Ben Affleck film, and Cowboy Bebop at Warners for Keanu Reeves) has been hired to write a third movie in the over-the-top, often racist, loud, and IMO totally ridiculous, almost parody-like franchise that the studio hope will entice the old gang to return for one more outing. And return for a little less money than what they could probably make elsewhere, cos at the end of the day Bad Boys II made only $273 million worldwide. Yes, usually that is a wonderful haul but on a budget of $130 million which would probably be well over $170 million now with inflated salaries and Bay's inflated explosion costs post-Transformers 2, so it's far from a guaranteed big money earner at Columbia. And if they lose Smith, Lawrence or Bay... they don't really have a franchise, so it's gotta be a mix of a spectacular script and a desire from the three to come back for a little less, if this film is to see the light of day. Anyway the gang hardly need any introduction. There's Will Smith, a man whose next massive paycheck could be from any number of remake/sequels (I, Robot 2, I Am Legend 2, Oldboy remake with Spielberg, Men in Black 3, Hancock 2, Harvey remake with Spielberg... and though the latter is just our expectation, the former are all in development specifically for him), alongside what now appears to be a Bad Boys 3. There's Martin Lawrence, for whom this franchise is his only chance of earning a serious paycheck outside of playing a family friendly Disney lead, and he gets to do it by pretending to be a bad-ass and as cool as Will Smith. But he's not fooling us, he's the guy studio's hire when Eddie Murphy is busy working on something else. And then there's producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay - who here, if nothing else, have a property where at least they can justify the amount of time and money they spend on blowing shit up. Given the choice... I would rather see Michael Bay hammer out another one in this franchise than the Transformers, purely because I find Will Smith more watchable than clunky robots, And, remarkably given the scene in Bad Boys II when Will Smith puts a gun to a 15 year old kid's head and asks him if "the nigger" is a virgin and wants to be fucked by a man, I actually find this series less offensive. Actually, maybe not.

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Is that not one of the more disgusting scenes you have ever seen put on film?