Maybe You Could Try Writing Something New, Ice Cube

Once again multi-millionaire Ice Cube is complaining about something.

I appreciate all the great work he’s done in the past, but the 53-year-old rapper-turned-actor has definitely hit his “old man hates everything” phase. This time, Warner Bros. Discovery is the target of his wrath, because he says the studio rejected two separate drafts of his script for another Friday movie.

According to Billboard, while appearing on the Drink Champs podcast, the Barbershop star explained why his fourth entry in the Friday franchise is taking so long to hit the big screen.

“I’m tryna get it out of Warner Bros. They don’t believe in the culture, man,” Ice Cube told hosts N.O.R.E. & D.J. E.F.N.

When it was suggested to change the characters’ names in order to get around any legal issues, Cube shut that idea down, saying, “Once I take the characters’ names, it becomes a property of Friday. It’s useless. They just need to come off that shit!”

According to the Big3 co-founder, the first draft of the film featured Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) going to jail for selling marijuana. The rejection of that script—a common practice in the business—didn’t sit well with the former N.W.A. member.

“The shit is funny,” he said. “After they rejected it, they had all these movies about going to jail. So I was like, ‘Man, see, y’all fuck me up.’ The other script was about the youngsters in the hood having beef with the OGs, and Craig has to come back and squash that. Smokey’s son is the new Deebo, and he’s wilding.”

According to Ice Cube, the studio “tripped on it.”

After what they did to Batgirl, I’m not here to defend Warner Bros. Discovery. But is it possible these were just bad scripts? The only films Ice Cube has written are the Friday movies, The Player’s Club, All About the Benjamins and The Janky Promoters, with the last credit coming in 2009. I’m pretty sure both comedy and feature films have changed since then, and maybe a 53-year-old man doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of what’s funny. Plus, we’ve had three Friday movies, with the last one coming out 20 years ago. Maybe it’s time to move on from that franchise and build something new. Perhaps Ice Cube can come up with new ideas and not rely on his past to prop up his career.

And let’s be honest, if Chris Tucker isn’t coming back, is anyone really interested in Friday 4? During the interview the Ride Along star admitted that the Rush Hour actor isn’t fully committed to the project, saying, “Chris is slippy.”

I know it’s hard for an actor who became a star in the ‘90s to understand, but sometimes the past should stay in the past. Of course, Ride Along 3 is currently listed on his IMDB page, so I’m guessing that’s not a motto he lives by.