Bad Boys 3 directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have met with Marvel Studios, but not to talk about a specific film or TV job. The filmmaking pair have made a name for themselves thanks to their own Bad Boys sequel. Regardless of the low expectations surrounding the film (a mid-January launch that took nearly seventeen years to come together), Bad Boys for Life wound up earning surprisingly favorable reviews from critics. Buoyed by word of mouth, the film went on to gross $73 million over the four-day MLK holiday weekend, making it the 2nd all-time biggest opener for its frame.
In the two weeks since it’s established, Bad Boys 3 has more than doubled its $90 million funding worldwide, all but guaranteeing the growing Bad Boys 4 will come to fruition. Sony will need to get the ball rolling on the sequel making Fillah and Arbi the obvious choices. Meanwhile, the duo is fielding offers to perform on projects for the studio’s competitors.
“They said they enjoyed [Bad Boys 3], and they told me,’Yo, what do you want to do? Let us find something to work collectively on.’ So there’s nothing planned yet, it was like a meeting”. The director went on to say he and Fallah would be considering tackling either a movie or TV series for Marvel, noting, “Now with Disney+ [it] has evolved so much that there is so much that you can do.” It appears they didn’t talk about a specific project either, with Arbi including “we’d like to find something to work with them on, but it’s not yet clear what that would be.”
Inspired by their efforts Bad Boys 3, Arbi and Fallah seem like robust fits for Marvel Studios and the MCU. The pair have shown they know how to balance humor scenes character play and action sequences, but are capable of directing every one of them. They demonstrated they understand how to craft a franchise movie that delivers on enthusiast expectations, yet evolves the brand in organic and compelling ways. These are all skills that would serve them well tackling an MCU superhero project, especially a film sequel or a Disney+ TV series featuring previously-established characters.
The time of Marvel’s meeting with Arbi and Fallah is intriguing, what with director Scott Derrickson having only lately left Doctor Strange at the Multiverse of Madness over creative differences with the studio. But assuming Arbi would be believed, he and Fallah were not individually approached to helm the Doctor Strange sequel, or any already-announced Phase 4 project. It stands to reason Sony will wish to begin production on Bad Boys 4 from 2021, meaning Arbi and Fallah will have to pass on directing or place any MCU-related plans on the back burner for now. Then again, the pair may potentially undermine and direct an episode or two for a Marvel Disney+ string this year before returning into the Bad Boys universe. In any event, Bad Boys for Life has made them in-demand abilities, so we should be getting a statement about their next project earlier than later.