Fans have not been able to keep their calm ever since they heard Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are returning to the screen after four years. This duo of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence became a fan favorite back in 1995 in Michael Bay’s first movie, Bad Boys. While the first two films were a creation of Bay, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have now taken the driver’s seat. After earning a whopping $400 million from the third installment, the directors duo is ready to give their audience another blockbuster.

Fans have immense faith in the makers as the last installment was a megahit and even became the highest-grossing film released in January. With such success of the franchise, one might wonder how much the leading cast will be paid for their escapades as Miami police officers. 

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s earnings from Bad Boys

It is safe to say that Bad Boys 4 is one of the most anticipated movies of 2024 owing to its huge commercial and critical success in the past. This was Smith’s first movie following his success in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In the first film, the Men In Black actor earned $2 million, which is very low compared to his wage in the next installments.

His salary increased eventually, with an amount of $20 million and $16 million for the next two films. For the 4th part, the 54-year-old charged almost twenty times his salary in the first Bad Boys movie.

With a salary of $39 million, Smith surpassed his wage in his 2022 release Emancipation and also proved why he ranks fifth among the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. However, Lawrence is not trailing behind in this race. He made a giant leap of $4 million to $32 million in the upcoming installment of the fan-loved franchise. Even though he is lagging behind Smith for $7 million, the National Security actor used to be one of the highest-paid actors in the 90s. 

Despite the franchise’s success, there is one aspect that truly bothered Smith in Bad Boys 2, and he found himself in an uncomfortable position.

Why was Will Smith uncomfortable filming Bad Boys 2

The I Am Legend star has maintained his aversion to profanity and explicit language since the very beginning of his career. The root of this aversion goes way back to his days as a budding rapper. The Academy Award-winning actor’s grandmother once schooled him for using harsh language in his raps and said, “Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves”. It was the moment when he decided to uphold his convictions against profanity and didn’t budge, even when popular rappers dissed his work. 

This principle made it difficult for the actor to film a few scenes in the second part of Bad Boys, which required him to use a lot of profane language. The actor did his job with perfection, even though it was very challenging for him. As the release of this next chapter of Bad Boys approaches, fans can only be hopeful that this time the makers uphold a profanity-free approach, making it easier for Smith. 

What are your thoughts about Will Smith’s salary across the three films?