Ice Cube anticipates one last trip to the ‘hood as he tells TheWrap, on the eve of the 20th Anniversary of 1995 classic Friday, that one Last Friday might be in the cards. A director’s cut of F. Gary Gray’s original film will play for one night only in select theaters on -when else?- April 20 (4/20), and the star hopes turnout for the event screening will show studio New Line Cinema that a sequel is viable.
“That’s my dream,” Cube said. “I think all the parties involved, all the people that’s been in the franchise, people from the first one to the third one, want to do another one. We might have to call it ‘Last Friday’ because it might end up being the last one.”
It sounds like Cube might be hinting that his partner-in-crime from the first film, Chris Tucker (a.k.a. Smokey), is game to finally re-join in on the fun along with series regulars like Mike Epps, John Witherspoon, Don “D.C.” Curry and Tommy “Tiny” Lister Jr, who all appeared in sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next.
“It’s really up to the movie companies to step up,” Cube added. “When they see stuff like this, they’ll realize how much people love this movie. Sometimes you owe it to the fans to do what the fans want. I hope they step up.”
Fan anticipation for Last Friday has been building for several years now, with Cube telling Thisisktinc back in 2012, “When I get a call and Chris Tucker says, ‘Yo, I’m in,’ we’re making it.” It doesn’t appear to be as simple as that, however, with Tucker’s star having faded since his Rush Hour glory days, although he now seems ready to reprise Smokey.
“I’m actually trying to help [the studio] come up with some ideas and be a part of the producing process with Cube to see if we can come up with something, so that might happen,” Tucker said in an interview last year. “If I do a movie like ‘Friday’ again it has to evolve.”
Meanwhile, F. Gary Gray will tell the story of Ice Cube’s rise to fame before Friday in Universal Pictures’ NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, which opens everywhere on August 14.
