Hip-hop legend-turned-filmmaker Ice Cube announced that the fourth installment of the widely-beloved classic Friday movie franchise is finally underway.
The former NWA group member and star of the seminal flick Boyz N the Hood told hip-hop OG Flavor Flav on his Sirius XM show, “Flavor of the Week,” that the longstanding impediments to filming the fourth Friday have been removed. At last.
Cube, née O’Shea Jackson Sr., had been famously battling Warner Brothers for many years about obtaining the rights to make the next Friday movie that has transcended generations — the films are enjoyed by millennials as much as fans from Cube’s generation.
“We finally got some traction with Warner Brothers,” Cube explained about the film that legendary Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton inspired him to make, which he did in 1995.
“They have new leadership. My man Mike DeLuca, who used to be at New Line [Cinema] when I first started, when I first did the first Friday and Players Club and All About the Benjamins. Mike DeLuca was there, so now he’s running Warner Brothers.”
He added, “Mike DeLuca was there right so now he’s running Warner Brothers. And him and my man Michael Gruber was like, ‘Yo, what the f— is going on with Friday? Man, let’s get this s— back online.”
Cube, 55, was filled with consternation and bitterness that the studio “took so long” and was “d–king around” and letting the classic films languish away on the studio shelves.
And while WB has finally relented, Cube remains resentful that the needless stalling was at the heart of the movie franchise of “losing people,” including actors John Witherspoon, Tiny “Zeus” Lister Jr., and Anthony Johnson. The three passed away within the past five years.
“I was a little hot ’cause they had took so long,” he said. “Because John Witherspoon passed away, Tiny passed away, A.J. Johnson passed away. Man, we keep losing people. And y’all keep d—ing around not doing the movie the way it need to be done.”
Cube added, “They want to do it. But the key is it gotta be done,” he said. “So, they finally came to their senses.”
