It’s one of the hottest action comedy movies of 2020, and it sees two of the most famous actors reunited in the third movie of the Bad Boys franchise.
In this post, you’ll discover the ultimate list of fun facts about Bad Boys For Life, one of Will Smith’s best movies!
1. The movie was directed by 2 Belgians
The third part of the Bad Boys franchise came much later than expected. The second movie came out in 2003 and plans were made for a third movie starting in the 2000s.
Michael Bay, the director of the first two movies showed interest in directing the third one as well, but the budget wasn’t high enough to support the plans.
After a lot of talks without a lot of action, Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah, two promising young Belgian movie directors, were signed in February 2018. It was then also confirmed that the two lead characters from the first movie would get back into character for the third flick.
2. It stars a lot of famous actors
One of the coolest facts about Bad Boys For Life is that it again stars our beloved duo Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the roles of Police officers Mike and Marcus.
The movie also stars many other talented actors and actresses such as Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Núñez, Kate del Castillo, Nicky Jam, and Joe Pantoliano.
3. Will Smith co-produced the movie
Will Smith isn’t just starring as one of the two lead actors, he co-produced Bad Boys For Life as well!
He did so together with movie legend Jerry Bruckheimer and former Sony executive Doug Belgrad.
4. Martin Lawrence’s daughter has a cameo in the movie
The daughter of Martin Lawrence, Jasmine Lawrence, has a cameo in the movie. She’s one of the girls that doesn’t let Mike and Marcus into a club.
5. Michael Bay was too expensive
It has long been speculated that Michael Bay would direct the third Bad Boys movie. After all, the first movie in the franchise was his first major success and put him on the map as an action movie director.
Will Smith was very honest about this and clearly said that “Michael Bay was too expensive for an R-rated movie like this.”
Pretty cool of Will to just straight up tell what’s up!
6. Michael Bay did have a cameo in the movie though
Even though Michael Bay didn’t direct the entire movie, he did have a cameo in it though. He plays the wedding MC at Marcus’ daughter’s wedding and announces Mike’s speech.
What’s fun about this cameo is that he actually directed the scene himself, using his famous 360-degree camera angle.
7. Michael Bay’s cameo created a plot hole
The problem with Michael Bay’s cameo in Bad Boys 3 is that it creates a plot hole. The reason is that he also had a cameo in the second movie in a completely different role.
One of those fun facts about Bad Boys For Life is that in the second movie, Mike and Marcus need to hijack a car to pursue their enemies, and the driver of this car (which doesn’t work properly), is actually Michael Bay as well.
8. There’s more to this cameo
So Michael Bay was asked to leave his vehicle because Mike and Marcus urgently needed it to continue a hot pursuit.
In Bad Boys For Life, this exact event happens again, but this time it’s one of the new two directors who need to give up his vehicle, Adil El Arbi.
9. There was some pressure on the aspiring directors
This was the Belgian director’s duo Adil & Bilall’s first Hollywood movie, and what a way it was to make your entree.
They were recognized due to their previous work which is the two Belgian movies “Black” (2015) and “Patser” (2018).
They agreed that the experience was something they really looked forward to. Who wouldn’t want to work together with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, right?
They also feared that it would mean the end of their Hollywood career if the movie didn’t succeed. Apparently, their agents made this pretty clear to them as well, adding a bit more pressure to the mix!
10. Where was the movie shot?
The main shooting places were Miami, Atlanta, and Mexico City. The filming happened from November 2018 until March 2019.
The movie was officially released in the United States on January 17, 2020, which is about 17 years after the release of the second Bad Boys movie and amazingly, 25 years after the first movie was released!
11. You can tell that Will Smith is the co-producer
Will Smith isn’t used to being billed in second place. All the movies he releases at the moment have him billed in the first place.
The first two Bad Boys movies had Will and Martin billed both in the first place, so this is the first time that Will Smith is billed first and Martin Lawrence second.
Could the fact that Will Smith is the co-producer of the movie have something to do with that?
12. Were Mike and Marcus dropped in rank?
In the first Bad Boys movie, Mike and Marcus were seen as being in the rank of “Detective Sergeant.”
In the second movie, it seemed they made a promotion as they then hold the position of “Detective Lieutenant.” We can see this on their badges when they are shown in the movie.
In the third movie, they are ranked as “First-Grade Detectives,” which means they were downgraded to a much lower position.
13. What does “From MLK to Malcolm X” Mean?
Will Smith’s character Mike is arresting Jenkins and he gets fed up with him resisting to cooperate. Because of this, he is using the line “I’ll be going from MLK to Malcolm X.”
Mike is making a comparison to Martin Luther King, who organized a peaceful protest for civil rights, while Malcolm X was pushing his agenda “by all means necessary, ” which also means the use of violence.
14. Adil and Bilall had a special request
The directors of the movie, Adil El Arbi, and Bilall Fallah had a special request. A very simple one to be honest as they wanted to be credited as “Adil & Bilall.” This is the same way they are credited on their previous two movies, “Black” and “Patser,” as well.
The request was accepted under 1 condition: They needed to ensure that they would continue to make movies as a directing duo forever.
This simply means we’ll see a lot of movies with the directors being “Adil & Bilall” soon!
15. People from Antwerp will know this
The club in which the birthday party takes place is called the “Zillion.” This is actually the name of one of the most infamous clubs ever in Antwerp with the same name.
The Zillion in Antwerp was only open from 1997 until 2002 when it was closed for legal problems with the management.
To emphasize the impact this famous club had, a “reunion” was organized back in 2015 to commemorate the Zillion in Antwerp in the “Sportpaleis,” one of the biggest indoor arenas in Belgium.
16. It was a great box-office success
The movie has done really well at the box office and grossed a total of over USD 425 million worldwide! In the United States and Canada alone, it grossed over USD 204 million.
17 It holds a pretty impressive record
Bad Boys For Life is the highest-grossing movie released in January. To make this even more impressive, it took a record of USD 146.3 million in just 17 days!
18. The movie has mostly positive reviews
The movie has been received mostly positively by critics. This is for the most part in line with the previous two movies which received similar reviews on various movie sites as well.
This means that Adil & Bilall’s movie career in Hollywood definitely isn’t going to end any time soon!
19. Will there be a 4th Bad Boys Movie?
Because of the enormous success of Bad Boys 3, a fourth movie is definitely on the table. In fact, it’s already being planned right now!
Chris Bremner, who also wrote the script for the third movie together with Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan, is already working on the script for Bad Boys 4.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t take as long as Bad Boys 3 for the 4th movie in the franchise to be released!
