Marvel Studios Met With Bad Boys 3 Directors, But Not About A Specific Project

Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have met with Marvel Studios, but not to discuss a specific movie or TV project. The filmmaking pair have quickly made a name for themselves thanks to their Bad Boys sequel. Despite the low expectations surrounding the movie (a mid-January release that took nearly seventeen years to come together), Bad Boys for Life wound up earning surprisingly positive reviews from critics. Buoyed by the early word of mouth, the film went on to gross $73 million over the four-day MLK holiday weekend, making it the second all-time biggest opener for the frame.

In the two weeks since its premiered, Bad Boys for Life has already more than doubled its $90 million budget worldwide, all but guaranteeing the developing Bad Boys 4 will come to fruition. Sony will no doubt want to get the ball rolling on the sequel as soon as possible, making Arbi and Fillah the obvious choices to direct. In the meantime, the filmmaking duo are fielding offers to work on projects for the studio’s competitors, Marvel among them.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Arbi confirmed he and Fallah have spoken to Marvel Studios about a future collaboration, saying “The said they liked [Bad Boys for Life] and they just told us, ‘Yo, what do you wanna do? Let’s find something to work together on.’ So there’s nothing really planned yet, it was just like a meeting”. The director went on to say he and Fallah would be interested in tackling either a film or TV show for Marvel, noting “Now with Disney+ [it] has all evolved so much that there’s so much you can do”. It appears they didn’t talk about a specific project either, with Arbi adding “we’d love to find something to work with them on, but it’s not yet clear what that would be”.

Judging by their efforts on Bad Boys for Life, Arbi and Fallah seem like strong fits for Marvel Studios and the MCU. The pair have proven they not only know how to balance character drama, comedy scenes, and action sequences, but are very capable at directing all three of them. They’ve also demonstrated they know how to craft a good franchise movie that delivers on fan expectations, yet evolves the larger brand in organic and compelling ways. These are all skills that would serve them well tackling an MCU superhero project, especially a movie sequel or a Disney+ TV show featuring previously-established characters.

The timing of Marvel’s meeting with Arbi and Fallah is certainly intriguing, what with director Scott Derrickson having only recently left Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over creative differences with the studio. However, assuming Arbi is to be believed, he and Fallah weren’t specifically approached to helm the Doctor Strange sequel, or any already-announced Phase 4 project at that. It stands to reason Sony will want to start production on Bad Boys 4 by 2021, which means Arbi and Fallah will either have to pass on directing or put any MCU-related plans on the back burner for now. Then again, the pair could potentially compromise and direct an episode or two for a Marvel Disney+ series this year before returning to the Bad Boys universe. Either way, Bad Boys for Life has made them in-demand talents, so we should be getting an announcement about their next project sooner than later.