Ice Cube recently opened up about Next Friday, the second movie in the Friday trilogy, and he revealed the alleged reason why Chris Tucker declined a $12 million deal to co-star in the film. Tucker appeared alongside the NWA rapper in the first Friday film — Friday (1995) — but was replaced by comedian Mike Epps for Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002), the franchise’s third film. Taking to Twitter, Ice Cube responded to a fan who tweeted that they were under the impression Tucker had opted not to star in the last movie due to “money” issues.
Ice Cube explained that Tucker had been offered a “$10-12” million deal to appear in the film, but chose not to “for religious reasons.” The rapper stated that, at the time, Tucker did not want to use adult language or smoke marijuana “on camera anymore.” In Next Friday, Ice Cube reprised his role as Craig Jones and Epps played his cousin, Daymond “Day-Day” Jones. In Friday After Next, the pair are roommates, and wind up being robbed on Christmas eve by a thief in a Santa Claus costume. They later head off to their new job as security guards at a strip mall, and chaos ensues as they navigate the day and try to throw a holiday party off without incident.
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Ice Cube wants to make a new Friday movie but earlier this year he claimed that the franchise is being blocked, which is stalling plans for the next installment. The rapper took to social media in February 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.”
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.”
