Why Did 'Bad Boys' Sequel Take So Long?

July 18 -- Bad Boys turned Martin Lawrence and Will Smith into rich men. So why did it take so long to reunite the wisecracking homicide detectives?

Perhaps they became too successful. Both stars have crossed into Hollywood's ultra-exclusive, eight-digit club, earning as much as $20 million a picture.

Of course, you only get that kind of money if you're very much in demand.

Landing two eight-digit stars is therefore doubly difficult — especially when one of them (read: Lawrence) has been embroiled in controversy that's made him a tabloid darling.

"To get us in a room and all to agree on the same script was not easy, because if I'm ready and Will's … out of the country, it is just hard to get together," says Lawrence.

"And we didn't find a script that we liked so nobody wanted to do it."

Action Film Turned Cultural Milestone

Lawrence reconfirmed his big screen comic stripes in the blockbuster Big Momma's House. Many of his recent efforts, like last year's Black Knight, have earned him big paydays but didn't pay off at the box office.

But even for Smith, a rapper-turned-lovable-Hollywood-family-man, Bad Boys II, opening nationwide today, comes with a buildup of anticipations that even a Men in Black sequel can't match.

Perhaps that's because Bad Boys was the highest-grossing film for Columbia Pictures in 1995, achieving a global level of success never before attained by a film staring two black actors.

"I haven't really felt this kind of anticipation since Independence Day," Smith says.

"I've had successful films … But that thing where people are just salivating before the credits roll at the beginning of the movie … You know, that's a great feeling."

Smith was already a TV star when he signed on to Bad Boys. He'd also hit a stride as a rapper. But he credits the Jerry Bruckheimer film — which began with him running with his shirt open — with making him a sex symbol.

Smith even recalls an early screening of the film when he watched the reaction of a woman looking at him on screen. She said, "Mmmm."