The idea of a Bad Boys 3 has been floating around since at least 2009, but Sony hasn’t yet found an idea or script it really likes. Safe House** writer David Guggenheim was most recently working up the screenplay, and now the studio hasThe Grey’s Joe Carnahan in early talks to take a crack at a new draft with an eye to potentially directing.
It’s still all early days – Carnahan does not have a deal yet, but Sony definitely wants this brought to a place that could make Will Smith happy enough to sign on quickly, so that he can consider working on it after Suicide Squad. Whether that happens remains to be seen, and the third outing has certainly waited long enough already, so it can stand a bit more of a delay.
But Carnahan as a director would also seem to be a good choice – he’s shown he can concoct OTT action with the likes of Smokin’ Aces and The A-Team (although the latter sometimes refused to make sense, that feels like the right call for a franchise that has had two Michael Bay entries already). Plus he could infuse it with the spirit of something like Narc.
Carnahan’s last film, Stretch, was somewhat unfairly shunted to DVD and Blu-ray or online for its release, so this could be what he needs to push some of his more personal projects back into pole position.