'Ride Along 2' Starring Kevin Hart & Ice Cube Will Be ‘Fresh and Fly’ &'Not Borrowing Jokes From the First One,’ Producer Promises
Universal Pictures Ride Along 2, the sequel to last year's box office hit Ride Along, is scheduled for release on January 15, 2016. Again directed by Tim Story, Ride Along 2 is now in post-production. Will Packer, Matt Alvarez and Larry Brezner and Ice Cube's Cube Vision produced. The script for the sequel was written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. As for the sequel's storyline, the studio simply teased, "a second-grade teacher must deal with his wife's tough cop brother."
Ride Along has grossed $153,262,184 at the worldwide box office. It also received three award nominations including a 2014 BET Award for Best Actor for Kevin Hart, and two 2014 MTV Movie Awards nominations, namely Best On-Screen Duo for Ice Cube and Hart and Best Comedic Performance for Hart.
Returning to reprise their roles in the first film are Ice Cube as undercover detective James Patton, Kevin Hart as the fast-talking, jumpy high school security guard Ben Barber who applies for the Atlanta City Police Academy, and Tika Sumpter as James's sister and Ben's girlfriend Angela. Joining them will be a new cast which includes Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Glen Powell, and Sherri Shepherd. Ride Along 2 started filming on July 7, 2014, in locations which include Fort Lauderdale, South Beach and Miami in Florida, and at 55 Park Place in Atlanta, Georgia.
While promoting Ride Along early last year, star and producer Ice Cube was already asked about the possibility of having a sequel. He told Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy: "I think we'll definitely do it again, especially if y'all liked the movie and y'all want to see a Part 2." And he further added: "When we do the sequel, we're not going to be borrowing jokes from the first one. ... We're going to do a whole new movie that's going to be fresh and fly."