Will Smith and Martin Lawrence Will Return in a Fourth Bad Boys Movie

In a case of life imitating art, it looks like neither Lawrence nor Smith will be retiring from these movies any time soon. According to The Hollywood Reporter , a fourth movie is already in the works at Sony Pictures.

Bad Boys came out in 1995, but the sequel, Bad Boys II, didn't follow until 2003. That eight-year gap was followed by a 17-year hiatus before Bad Boys for Life; these long stretches were reportedly due to rising budgets and the need to find the "right story" for the characters. It probably didn't help that Will Smith also became an increasingly bankable, in-demand movie star following the first film. However, Sony reportedly hopes to have a much shorter gap between the third and fourth entries in the franchise, now that Lowrey and Burnett have been reintroduced to audiences.

And fans needn't worry that Smith, now 50, is no longer capable of playing the same action-hungry cop that he first portrayed 25 years ago: the actor is in incredible shape, having recently traveled the world ticking items off his bucket list, including running a half-marathon after less than a month of preparation.

The as-yet-untitled Bad Boys 4 will be written by Chis Bremner, who also wrote Bad Boys for Life, and is currently working on a third chapter in the National Treasuremovie series starring Nicolas Cage .