The first Friday was a stoner comedy released in 1995. It's nominal plot involved Chris Tucker's need to get $200 back to local drug dealer Big Worm (Faizon Love) and Cube's face-off with bully Deebo (Tiny Lister), but its easygoing pace allowed for plenty of sitting around on porches, talking nonsense and smoking.
Five years later, Next Friday was a broader tale of Cube staying with his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) and getting embroiled in some shenanigans against the trio of haplessly inept Latino gangstas next door (this was at the height of Cube's rather public spat with Cypress Hill, context fans). The Cube/Epps double-act continued into Friday After Next, which saw them as mall cops. There was also a short-lived animated series, although none of the movie series cast provided the voices.
The first film was directed by F Gary Gray, the second by Steve Carr, and the third by Marcus Raboy, but the currently untitled fourth may see Cube himself stepping behind the camera, as well as starring and writing as he's always done. The bigger news however, is that the new film may see the return of Tucker's Smokey, who hasn't been seen since the original. Deebo's in it too.
Deadline and TMZ both point out that Tucker sat out the other Friday sequels for religious and anti-drugs reasons (he also says he wouldn't now do Jackie Brown), but the "serious talks" that are apparently underway suggest that Tucker's reservations might be addressed and accommodated in the next screenplay. There surely is comedy potential in a Smokey who no longer smokes: it's Friday, he ain't got no job, and he ain't got shit to do... but he can't get high either...
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