"Bad Boys 3" is becoming the new "Groundhog Day." Every few months, we'll get a new tease. Each tease is nearly identical to the last one, promising that the third movie is really going to happen. This has been going on for years, and each time the stars say the movie is coming soon, it feels like they're just perfecting the promise, until one day we'll wake up and the movie will magically appear.

"It is very, very, very close," Will Smith told Jimmy Kimmel on last night's show. "It is very close. It is very close."

Smith didn't get a chance to explain what in heaven's name is taking so long, since he was on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to talk about his new movie "Collateral Beauty" and Kimmel only saved about 20 seconds to talk about "Bad Boys 3." (And Kimmel used those seconds to do most of the talking himself.)

Kimmel mentioned that Martin Lawrence had been on his show in October and said they'd "maybe" start production on "Bad Boys 3" in March 2017. The audience cheered when Kimmel brought that up, but it sounds like it was more hope than reality. Smith didn't confirm March, he just said the movie was "close," and expressed his affection for Martin Lawrence. "Let me tell you, I love that dude. One of the best times I've ever had making movies, so I'm looking forward [to the new movie]."The first "Bad Boys" movie came out in 1995, followed by "Bad Boys II" in 2003. Back in August, it was revealed that the third movie had a title, if nothing else: "Bad Boys For Life," borrowing its name from a line from Smith to Lawrence in the second film. The third film also has a new release date -- January 12, 2018, rescheduled from the previous date of February 17, 2017. No idea if January 2018 is still the plan, but there's also still supposedly a "Bad Boys 4" scheduled for 2019.

"We do one a decade," Smith joked to Kimmel, who in turn joked that they'll eventually get to "Bad Old Men." Let's just hope fans live to see it happen.

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