Ice Cube Continues to Battle With Warner Bros. Over ‘Friday’ Franchise

Ice Cube and Warner Bros. are hoping to make a fourth Friday film, almost two decades after the third one hit theaters, but there has been a snag thanks to infighting between the two sides. The next film in the franchise, Last Friday, has been in the works for almost 10 years, but the studio and star cannot agree on creative direction and who is the cause of the delay. The first Friday film hit theaters in 1995, with Next Friday following in 2000 and Friday After Next in 2002.

Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, wants Warner Bros. to give up the rights to Friday, as well as two other movies he had with the studio, All About the Benjamins (2002) and The Players Club (1998), according to letters his lawyers sent to the studio obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Ice Cube co-wrote all three films, and directed The Players Club himself. In response, Warner Bros. considered the demand “extortionate” and refused to give the rapper-turned-actor the rights.

In one letter, Ice Cube’s lawyer accused the studio of sending Ice Cube excessive feedback on the scripts he wrote for Last Friday. The lawyer called Warner Bros. a “poor steward” for the franchise. “These guys don’t get me, and I don’t get them,” Ice Cube told the Journal. Warner Bros. called Ice Cube’s allegations “revisionist history” and called his moves an “attempt to unjustly obtain its intellectual property.”

The studio’s executives believe Ice Cube is at fault for the delay. They believe Ice Cube and his camp are unwilling to work with the studio. They believe his other activities, like the Big3 basketball league, are distracting him from making Last Friday. The studio also strongly disagrees with Ice Cube’s allegations that discrimination plays a role in the issues with the Friday franchise.

In one letter, Ice Cube’s rep alleged that movies he made were “underfunded” in comparison to movies made by white creative teams. The letter did not provide specific comparisons to other projects though, notes the Journal. In May, the studio told Ice Cube’s lawyer the discrimination complaints are “grounded in a libelous set of falsehoods.” In another statement to the Journal, the studio said it “strongly” disagrees “with any claims of discriminatory treatment, and stand by our ongoing and proven commitment to [supporting] diverse voices and storytellers and will continue to do so as we move forward.”

Last Friday has been in the works at Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema unit since at least 2012. Ice Cube is reportedly set to make over $11 million for the movie, if and when it gets made, sources told the Journal. His first idea for Last Friday was to set the film in prison, but he told the Journal the studio doesn’t think a prison-set movie would be funny and they want the characters in familiar settings. Ice Cube wrote the second script with changes, but the studio still asked for edits. Ice Cube has accused the studio of demanding edits just to delay production. The latest script will likely need more revisions, as John Witherspoon, whose Willie Jones character was to be prominently featured, died in October 2019.

Ice Cube’s more recent experiences with Warner Bros. have been negative, the star said. Both Straight Outta Compton and Ride Along were at one point being made there, but they both were eventually produced by Universal Pictures and became hits. Still, Warner Bros. claims it is excited to make Last Friday, but Ice Cube wants to take control himself. “I’m going to go somewhere else and make a hit and embarrass them,” he told the Journal.