Ice Cube Claims ‘Friday’ Franchise Being Blocked, Stalling New Movie

Ice Cube wants to make a new Friday movie but claims that the franchise is being blocked, which is stalling plans for the next installment. The rapper took to social media on Friday to accuse Warner Bros. of holding up the film series. He used a hashtag to declare he wants to “free Friday from the jaws of Warner Bros. who refuses to make more sequels.” Ice Cube added, “They have hi-jacked the happiness of the culture.”

At this time Warner Bros does not appear to have responded to Ice Cube’s accusations, but as of a couple of years ago it seemed like the next — maybe final — Friday movie was going to happen. In 2019, Ice Cube appeared on ESPN’s The Jump and shared an update on the status of the movie. “We are pushing for it, we finished the script, we are getting notes from the studio and it’s going back and forth,” Ice Cube said at the time. He then said that he was ready to “get into pre-production and start hiring,” and added, “It would be nice for this to come out on the 25th anniversary.”

The first Friday film came out in 1995 and was written by Ice Cube and DJ Pooh. Ice Cube starred in the film alongside Chris Tucker as two unemployed, weed-smoking friends in South Central Los Angeles who encounter a Friday full of chaos while trying to pay off a drug dealer. The movie was directed by F. Gary Gray, and was quite successful, earning more than $27 million at the box office on a budget of less than $4 million. Gray would later team with Ice Cube again on the Oscar-nominated Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about N.W.A., Ice Cube’s rap group with Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, and MC Ren.

A sequel, Next Friday, was released in 2000, once again written by and starring Ice Cube, but this time director Steve Carr (Dr. Dolittle 2, Paul Blart: Mall Cop) stepped behind the camera to shoot. Another big change was the addition of comedian Mike Epps, who filled the void left by Chris Tucker’s exit. The movie was a hit with fans, raking in nearly $60 million on an $11 million budget. Ice Cube would go on to team up with Carr again also, with Carr directing the rapper-turned-actor in 2007s Are We Done Yet?, a sequel to his 2005 film, Are We There Yet?

Finally, the third Friday film, Friday After Next, was released in 2002. Ice Cube again handled writing duties and starred with Mike Epps. The movie was directed by Marcus Raboy, who had previously worked with Ice Cube on several music videos, including one for Ice Cube’s 1992 single “Wicked.” As for the proposed next film, it is reported to be titled Last Friday, and Ice Cube is hoping that Warner Bros. will release the franchise rights to him so he can make it somewhere else, but so far that has not happened.