‘Bad Boys 4′ set to shoot in Atlanta this spring

Martin Lawrence, left, and Will Smith star in “Bad Boys for Life.” Ben Rothstein/Columbia Pictures

Martin Lawrence, left, and Will Smith star in “Bad Boys for Life.” Ben Rothstein/Columbia Pictures

The “Bad Boys” duo of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are returning to Atlanta to shoot the fourth movie of the series.

On an Instagram video last month, the two actors confirmed the sequel is happening for sure.

According to Productionlist.com, the movie is set to begin production on April 3.

A bulk of the third film “Bad Boys for Life” was shot in Atlanta in early 2019 before moving to Mexico City and Miami.

The film came out in early 2020 before the pandemic hit and generated more than $200 million in box office gross in North America and Canada and $220 million in other countries. Critics mostly liked the film, which received a 76% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 96% positive audience score.

Sony Pictures has not released any details of the story line for “Bad Boys 4,” but there was a post-credit scene in “Bad Boys for Life” that teased the next film. In it, Mike (Smith) visits his son Armando (Jacob Scipio) in prison and offers him a chance for redemption. This likely means he may join Mike and Marcus to battle the next terrible drug kingpin in Miami.

The first “Bad Boys” debuted in 1995 to strong box office results when Smith was building his movie career. The second film “Bad Boys II,” released in 2003, received worse critical response but the box office numbers doubled.

Still, Smith waited more than 15 years for the third film because he wanted the right script to come along and the third one received the most acclaim of the three films to date.