If Ice Cube and Warner Bros. can’t come to some sort of agreement, we may never see the return of the Friday franchise. There has been a call for Friday to follow up on its last film, and while the next installment was reportedly greenlit years ago, Cube has been at odds with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. In May 2019, Cube revealed that the script for the next film was finished, however, getting things to move forward has proven difficult.
Further adding to the delay were the deaths of two icons: John Witherspoon and Tommy “Tiny” Lister. Still, there are plans to move forward without the franchise’s beloved actors, but the Wall Street Journal recently reported that things are getting tense between Cube and Warner Bros.
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According to the outlet, Cube has requested that Warner “surrender its rights to the ‘Friday’ property and to two other movies he made there—’All About the Benjamins’ and ‘The Players Club.'” The WSJ claimed that they have read through correspondences between the two parties, and it seems that they’ve each blamed the other for the lack of movement.
Warner reportedly responded to Cube, stating that they have no plans on relinquishing their rights to any of those aforementioned films. The Rap mogul’s attorneys were said to have told Warner that they’ve been “excessive in its feedback notes” regarding the script for the next Friday film. However, Warner reported retorted in a statement that Cube is “unjustly” trying to “obtain its intellectual property.” They also accuse Cube of being distracted with his other projects, including his Big3 basketball league.
Cube reportedly accused the studio of discrimination, as well, alleging that his films have been “habitually underfunded.” Warner denied the accusations. “We strongly disagree with any claims of discriminatory treatment, and stand by our ongoing and proven commitment to support diverse voices and storytellers and will continue to do so as we move forward.”
We’ll just have to wait a bit longer to see how this pans out.
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