If Sony's Bad Boys had debuted in the modern era of cinema rather than 1995, we likely would have had a multi-film franchise by now. Michael Bay directed the original relatively low-budget actioner starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and then followed that film up with a bigger box office (and much bigger budget) for the 2003 sequel, Bad Boys 2. More than a decade later, the studio is looking to reboot the franchise and has already penciled in two release dates for the third and fourth installments. News has been relatively quiet on the production as of late, but Smith made waves recently by confirming that a new movie is on the way, indeed.

In speaking with Zane Lowe in the Beats 1 studio, Smith more or less confirmed that Bad Boys 3 is on track for its scheduled February 17, 2017 release date:

"There is a very, very, very strong possibility that you will be seeing a 'Bad Boys' within the next 12-16 months."

As of this writing, that's almost exactly 16 months, so if nothing else, Smith's math skills are as sharp as ever. Unfortunately we don't have much more in the way of details at this point. It's still unclear whether Smith will star in and produce the next film(s) or if he will just stick to the role of a producer and hand the franchise off to new actors. At this point I'm not sure which I'd rather see, but perhaps Bad Boys 3 will feature a symbolic hand-off to a younger generation, which will star on their own in Bad Boys 4, which is currently set for July 3, 2019 release.

Watch Smith's visit to the Beats 1 studio to talk to Lowe below, and skip ahead to the 18:50 mark to listen to the part regarding Bad Boys 3 (hat tip to Erik Davis):

For more on Bad Boys, check out our recent coverage provided at the links below:

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