Source: Robert Gauthier / Getty
Nearly a quarter century since the third installment, the Friday franchise is back.
The news comes after New Line’s CCO Richard Brener sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, which—much to cinephiles’ delight—included a lightning round of questions about remakes and sequels to some beloved Hollywood works.
During the conversation, he revealed that after negotiations with the film’s writer, Ice Cube, they’ve finally reached an agreement.
“We are making another Friday. We just closed a deal with Ice Cube to write and star. It’s going to be called Last Friday.” Brener told THR.
The West Coast rapper has been pretty vocal about his ambitions to return to the buddy comedy movie, telling Flavor Flav on Sirius XM last year that he finally had confidence in Warner Bros. that a fourth film would come to fruition.
“We finally got some traction with Warner Bros. They have new leadership, my man Mike De Luca, who used to be at New Line when I first did the first Friday and Player’s Club and All About the Benjamins, you know — Mike De Luca was there,” Cube said of the co-chair and CEO of Warner Bros. “So now he’s running Warner Bros. and he’s like, him and my man Michael Gruber was like, ‘Yo, what the f-ck is going on with Friday? Man, let’s get this sh-t back online.’”
However, the news is bittersweet as some of the most memorable characters have passed away, like John Witherspoon, who played Pops and Deebo’s Tiny “Zeus” Lister Jr..
“Because John Witherspoon passed away, ‘Tiny’ passed away, A.J. Johnson passed away,” Cube added. “Man, we keep losing people. And y’all keep d-cking around, not doing the movie the way it needs to be done.”
The decade-long fight for a green light has been approved. But still we await more news, such as a production timeline, what actors will be reprising roles, and how Cube will infuse a new era of comedic stars into the iconic franchise.
See how hyped —and apprehensive— social media is about a new Friday film below.