The third installation of the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys For Life, shattered box office records, coming out as an acclaimed and certified hit that made over $300 million in ticket sales.
The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence starrer made waves everywhere, but we bet you didn't know it was directed by two Arabs.
The feature was helmed by Belgian-Moroccan filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and marked their Hollywood debut.
They've now both made a name for themselves in the U.S. film industry thanks to the incredible success of the film. Bad Boys For Life wasn't expected to be a huge release given that it has been 17 years in the making and faced several hurdles. But it opened to positive reviews from critics and the word of mouth over it eventually led millions to flock to theaters.
The feature grossed $73 million over the four-day Martin Luther King weekend in the U.S., becoming the second all-time biggest MLK holiday opener.
Film studios in the U.S. including the world-renowned Marvel took note of how El Arbi and Fallah managed to completely rebrand the film franchise.
The directors recently confirmed that the company reached out to them to discuss the possibility of a future collaboration. In an interview with Comic Book, El Arbi said that while there's nothing concrete yet, a future Marvel production is highly possible.
"Well there's nothing concrete. They just met us. They said they liked the movie 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. But yeah, we'll see if we find something cool," he said.
The pair, who have been directing Belgian films together for years, is now raking in the success of their U.S. debut.
Stealing the show at international red carpets
They've made friends with Bad Boys co-star DJ Khaled
Not to mention they're best buds with Will Smith
The talented men have a repertoire of films under their belt
El Arbi and Fallah went to the same film school and have directed several projects together.
The 2011 short film Broeders marked their first official collaboration. Three years after, they were ready for their film feature debut with a 2014 film titled Image.
Several films later, the pair were hailed for their 2018 release Patser (also known as Gangster) which proved to be a major hit in Belgium.
Their films mainly focus on highlighting societal problems including the struggles young people face in marginalized areas in Brussels. Some of the characters in their Belgian releases have a Moroccan background.
