Looks like we might not be getting that new Friday movie any time soon. Or, possibly ever.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that Ice Cube and Warner Bros. are in the midst of a bitter back-and-forth over Last Friday, the fourth movie in the franchise thatโs been in development for just under a decade now. According to the WSJ, the movie isnโt even close to being done and both Cube and Warner Bros. officials have been exchanging โheated lettersโ about the movieโs fate for weeks.
And now, it seems that Cube wants to break free from the Dubba Dubba WB.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Ice Cube wants Warner Bros., owned by AT&T Inc., to surrender its rights to the โFridayโ property and to two other movies he made thereโโAll About the Benjaminsโ and โThe Players Club,โ according to correspondence his lawyers have sent to the studio and that The Wall Street Journal has reviewed.
IndieWire reports that Cubeโs lawyer wrote in a letter that Warner Bros. was โexcessiveโ in studio notes on the script and is a โpoor stewardโ of the franchise. All three Friday movies were distributed through Warner Bros. New Line Cinema label and have raked in well over $20 million in box office revenue.
From IndieWire:
Ice Cube originally set the first draft of โLast Fridayโ in a prison, but he claims โthe studio told him prison isnโt funny.โ Studio executives said โthey felt the fans of the franchise wanted to see the characters in their familiar settings instead of behind bars for much of the movie.โ Ice Cube wrote a second script but then got feedback he felt was โoff the mark.โ The actor said โhe viewed the entire editing process as a way to delay getting cameras rolling.โ
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. told the WSJ that Cubeโs demand to release the rights of his movies was โextortionate,โ and that the studio wonโt give into it. The studio went on to call Cubeโs claims โrevisionist historyโ and blamed him for the movieโs delays because he and his team are unwilling to engage with them.
Cubeโs team also floated around the possibility that Warner Bros. might be discriminating against him.
From the WSJ:
The possibility of discrimination has also emerged as a flashpoint in the conversations. In one letter, Ice Cubeโs representative wrote that movies he has done for the studio โare habitually underfunded in comparison with projects featuring white casts and creative teams.โ The correspondence points to other Ice Cube films he says werenโt well supported.โ
Warner Bros. fired back, saying in part to the WSJ that Cubeโs sentiments were โgrounded in a libelous set of knowing falsehoods,โ and that they have and will continue to โsupport diverse voices and storytellers.โ
Either way, this whole situation is a beyond disappointing for fans of the original three movies. Not only have we lost both John Witherspoon and Tommy โTinyโ Lister in the years since Last Friday was first announced, but based on all of this, it sounds like the movie just isnโt going to happen.
That is, unless Cube and Warner Bros. find common ground or the studio decides to give up the rights to the franchise. Weโll see what happens.
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