We’ve been hearing about the development of Bad Boys 3 for quite a while now. Michael Bay directed the first two movies in the franchise, both of which starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, but we found out back in June that Sony was actually in talks with The Grey, Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team, and Narc director Joe Carnahan to re-write a script penned by David Guggenheim and possibly direct the movie instead of Bay, who’s thought to be too busy with his upcoming 13 Hours and the Transformers franchise.

Now Sony has announced a release date for Bad Boys 3. But even more surprising is that they also have an early release date reserved for Bad Boys 4, as well.

After many years, the long-gestating Bad Boys 3 is taking one more step towards finally being made.

The sequel has been under development for quite some time, and now there are new reports saying that Sony is looking at Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Smokin’ Aces) to replace Michael Bay as director on the next installment. More on the story below.

The trades are reporting that Columbia Pictures is now developing Bad Boys III. The studio has hired Peter Craig to write the screenplay with no promise that director Michael Bay, or stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will return. The plan is simply to get a script done, and if it’s good enough, eventually, everyone will agree to reunite and make the movie.

The original 1995 Bad Boys was Bay’s first movie and didn’t leave too much of a huge mark on the cinema world — it received mediocre reviews and only scored $66 Million at the box office. Bad Boys II was made when Michael Bay was a hell of a lot more Michael Bay-ier and came with all the spectacular bangs and booms that netted it a more respectable $138 Million box office take. Consensus on the movies seems to be fairly split: you either think they’re a lot of popcorn fun, or you hate them with a passion. Considering the current star of Will Smith and how much money Bay’s movies make (not to mention his desire to step away from giant robots), this could actually make some sense.