Martin Lawrence and Will Smith haven't been bad boys for life just yet, but they have been on the job for a quarter of a century.
It's been 25 years since they proved to be an irresistible comedic duo in Bad Boys, the action blockbuster that made movie stars out of Smith and Lawrence, gave director Michael Bay a taste for major action sequences and launched a franchise that took its damn time to come together.
"I got Big Willie to come down and see me about the movie. I felt special," Lawrence quipped to MTV News in 2010. "Any time you can get Big Willie to come out and talk about doing a third installment of a hot movie like Bad Boys, you have to take notice."
Eight years later, Smith announced in a video on Instagram, "It's official, baby! Bad Boys 3—it's happening! It's official!" as he moved the camera to reveal Lawrence right next to him.
So, eventually the stars collided, and now we've got a trilogy that could, one day, become a tetrology, provided it doesn't take another decade to settle on a script that everyone likes.
"We absolutely love working together and we would certainly be willing to do it again if the audience loved the chemistry," Smith told E! News in January when Bad Boys for Life came out.
But for now, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the comparatively low-budget-for-Michael-Bay film that started it all, here are 25 secrets about the franchise:
Though it took 17 years to get Bad Boys for Life into theaters on Jan. 17, it turns out it arrived just in time.
Movie theaters all over the country have been closed for almost a month now in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, leaving the long-awaited action-thriller-comedy the No. 1 movie at the box office for 2020 so far.
Needless to say, there may really be no time quite like the present to enjoy a Bad Boys trilogy binge from the comfort of home.