Does Bad Boys For Life Have A Post-Credits Scene?

After nearly 17 years, the boys are back in three-quel Bad Boys for Life — and yes, things have changed just a bit. Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are family men now, and while they still keep finding ways to get themselves right into the middle of the action, that action is just a tad more subdued than in the past, because their story is no longer being directed by Michael Bay. Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah took over for this long-gestating installment.

Perhaps the biggest change for Lowrey and Burnett: the critics are actually pretty happy to see them. Bad Boys for Life has gotten markedly better reviews than either the 1995 original Bad Boys or its sequel, 2003's Bad Boys II, and the flick's box office fortunes are looking good. Many fans are already wondering whether a fourth entry in the series — which was said to be in the works when the three-quel was announced in 2015 — is in the offing.

Well, these days, perhaps the strongest indicator of whether or not a movie will get a sequel is the presence or absence of a post-credits scene. As it turns out, Bad Boys for Life has one — well, a mid-credits scene, at any rate — and without spoiling anything, it expands on the dramatic reveal of the film's third act, and it absolutely seems to be setting the table for Bad Boys 4 (via CinemaBlend). Suffice to say that the stakes will be raised drastically for Lowrey in particular in the next film, which we now know is on the way.

We've already kicked around the question of whether there will be a Bad Boys 4, and as it turns out, the flick is indeed in the works (via The Hollywood Reporter). The biggest obstacle to the production of Bad Boys for Life was cost, since Bay and Smith both command salaries that could charitably be described as "ridiculous."

Of course, the production was able to bring its overhead down just a bit by axing Bay from the scenario, and Bad Boys for Life was brought in on a reported budget of $90 million (roughly a quarter of which we're guessing went directly into Smith's bank account). By all accounts, Arbi and Fallah acquitted themselves very well in the directors' chairs, so it stands to reason that the four-quel will carry a similar price tag.

Bad Boys 4 was announced on the very day that Bad Boys for Life hit theaters, and it's safe to say that Sony was likely encouraged by those strong reviews and the flick's box office tracking, which indicates that it could very well make back its budget within its first couple weeks of release. It looks like the tease of that mid-credits scene will actually lead somewhere — and we'll just bet that this time, it won't take quite so long for Lowrey and Burnett to return.