Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are set to reunite for 'Bad Boys for Life'.

Will Smith

Will Smith

The 49-year-old actor and Martin, 53, previously starred in two films in the buddy cop movie franchise, and they are being brought back for a much-anticipated third instalment.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have both held negotiations about helming the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The original movies, which were released in 1995 and 2003, earned an impressive $414.7 million at the worldwide box office.

Talk of a third movie in the franchise has been circulating for years, but until now, no meaningful progress has seemingly been made.

El Arbi and Fallah were both born in Morocco and they recently directed some episodes of the FX crime drama 'Snowfall', as well as the feature film 'Gangsta', which is due out later this year.

Sony has handed 'Bad Boys for Life' a release date of 2020, having originally planned to premiere the third film in 2017.

Meanwhile, Will has previously spoken enthusiastically about the project, revealing that he and Martin are both determined to make another movie in the franchise.

The Hollywood star - who plays the part of Detective Sergeant Mike Lowrey in the films - said: "I saw Martin [Lawrence] a few weeks ago. I haven't seen him for about two years. We just looked at each other. We hugged.

"In that moment we knew we were making another 'Bad Boys'. We're definitely doing another one."