Will Smith, Martin Lawrence kick-off CinemaCon 2023

LAS VEGAS: CinemaCon 2023 kicked off in Las Vegas with a taped message from actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence from the sets of 'Bad Boys 4'.

"Wassup, CinemaCon!" Smith said after he and Lawrence exited a black Porsche against the backdrop of a row of production trailers.

"The Bad Boys back in the building. We on set and we are so sorry we couldn't be there with you," according to The Hollywood Reporter, a US-based media outlet,

"We glad we not there because we here and they're paying us to be here," Smith further said.

As previously reported, Smith and Lawrence are teaming up once again for Columbia Pictures in 'Bad Boys 4', in an installment that reunites them with filmmaking duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who last directed them in 2020's Bad Boys for Life - a hit that earned $426 million in its global box office haul, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

"Bad Boys 4 is coming. Back in the saddle. We hype, we excited," Smith concluded, adding that they are in their fourth week of filming.

CinemaCon 2023 is being held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from April 24-27.

The 2003 sequel 'Bad Boys II' grossed USD 273 million worldwide, while the first 'Bad Boys' made USD 141 million.

However, 'Bad Boys for Life' managed to outperform the first and second instalments combined. Directed by Michael Bay, the original Bad Boys introduced viewers to Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith), two hip detectives who look to protect a witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence storage room of their police precinct.