Sony Pictures has released a first-look trailer for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth instalment in the Bad Boys franchise.
A sequel to Bad Boys for Life (2020), Bad Boys: Ride or Die sees Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return as Detective Lieutenant Mike Lowrey and Detective Lieutenant Marcus Burnett. The new film sees their boss framed for criminal misdeeds, meaning the two friends are now on the run from the law by association.
Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Paola Núñez also reprise their roles from the previous film. Meanwhile Tasha Smith succeeds Theresa Randle as Theresa Burnett. Randle had played the character in the three previous films.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, known collectively as Adil & Bilall, return having also directed Bad Boys for Life, which became the franchise's most successful film. It grossed over $425 million at the global box office on a $90 million budget. The film also won two prizes at the 2020 People's Choice Awards.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is Adil & Bilall's first project since their Batgirl film, starring Leslie Grace, was controversially cancelled by Warner Bros. Discovery.
It is also the first film starring Smith both produced and released since his confrontation with Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. Smith slapped Rock across the face, leading him to resign from the Academy and be banned from all Academy events for a decade. The slap was in response to a joke that Rock made about actor Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife.
The Bad Boys franchise began with the release of Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003), both directed by Michael Bay. A television spin-off, L.A.'s Finest, aired for two seasons from 2019 to 2020.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is released in cinemas worldwide on 7th June 2024.