Despite other Will Smith projects being frozen in the wake of the Oscars controversy, Bad Boys 4 is still in development at Sony.
Since the ‘slapping’ incident at this year’s Oscar ceremony, several Will Smith projects have been unceremoniously terminated, such as the Netflix sequel to Bright which was reportedly in development. However, one project that’s still alive, kind of, is Sony’s Bad Boys 4, according to none other than Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman.
Whilst speaking about being one of the only major studios to not invest in a streaming platform, Rothman dropped a few interesting nuggets of information, not least that the Will Smith-starring action franchise is still in development, even if that development phase isn’t really in motion.
According to Rothman, “that movie’s been in development and still is. There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving. That was a very unfortunate thing that happened, and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years, and I know him to be a good person. That was an example of a very good person having a very bad moment, in front of the world. I believe his apology and regret is genuine, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption.”
So there you go. It’s been proved before that anyone can be rehabilitated in Hollywood and when you have the chairman of a major studio offering you public support, the door it seems, is very much open for Smith to return when the time is judged to be right. We’ll bring you more on the future of any other Will Smith projects as we hear about them.
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