All About Laughs
“Friday” is a staple film for everyone. The cult classic about one crazy Friday in South Central spun off 3 sequels and a massive legacy. It launched the careers of Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Mike Epps and several other prominent actors. Ice Cube is looking to take the film out for one more installment, but claims Warner Bros are standing in the way.
The original film came out in 1995, with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker leading the ensemble cast. The second installment, Next Friday, was released in 2000; and the third and so far final, Friday After Next, debuted just two years later.
Rumors of a 4th film persisted for years. During a 2019 appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Cube said he and his team had completed a script. Titled Last Friday, their goal was to release it for the originals 25th anniversary.
Told y’all it’s coming… #Friday pic.twitter.com/p15BEBBnFn
— Ice Cube (@icecube) May 3, 2019
“We are pushing for it, we finished the script, we are getting notes from the studio and it’s going back and forth,” Ice Cube said. “Get into pre-production and start hiring. It would be nice for this to come out on the 25th anniversary.”
Following the death of John Witherspoon in October of 2019, plans to move forward understandably stalled a bit. Witherspoon had played Pops in all three installments of the franchise.
Shortly after, the original cast took another blow with the passing of Thomas Duane “Tiny” Lister Jr., who played neighborhood bully Deebo. He died December 10, 2020.
Posting to his Instagram today, Ice Cube let fans know that while he is now ready to move forward, the powers that be are now the ones stalling. “#freefriday from the jaws of Warner Bros. who refuses to make more sequels. They have hi-jacked the happiness of the culture.” The caption accompanied an animation of the original cast.
According to Complex.com “Warner Bros. reportedly has no interest in expanding the beloved franchise. Sources tell TMZ that Ice Cube has become increasingly frustrated with the studio and is now wanting to produce more sequels with another company; However, he’s unable to do so as the studio reportedly refuses to release the rights to him.”
