The Friday franchise consists of American stoner buddy-comedies created by Ice Cube and DJ Pooh; including three theatrical films and one animated spin-off TV series.

[1] The series takes place in South Central Los Angeles and follows the exploits of perpetually unemployed Craig Jones, who, along with his friends and relatives, is thrust into various issues that happen to occur on a Friday.

The film takes a look at one single Friday in the life of two friends, Craig Jones (Ice Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker), in South Central LA.

Craig has recently been fired from his job while attempting to collect his wages, as he was allegedly caught on camera stealing cardboard boxes from UPS, although he claims innocence.

In the end, Craig manages to overcome all of the day's tribulations, save for finding employment; he and Smokey are able to pay Big Worm, he confronts Deebo and successfully beats him after all of his bullying to everyone else, and he and his pretty neighbor Debbie (Nia Long) hook up.

The film is directed by Steve Carr, and stars Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Don Curry, John Witherspoon, and Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.

Craig's father, Willie decides to send him up to Rancho Cucamonga and live with his uncle's family until Deebo is back in jail.

Craig and Day-Day get jobs as rent-a-cops in a strip mall where Willie and Elroy opened up a rib joint called "Bros. BBQ".

"[4] In May 2018, Mike Epps posted a video and image on Instagram with Ice Cube, teasing fans, and they assumed that the film is in production.

Ice Cube criticized Warner Bros. for not continuing the franchise, and New Line Cinema for not devoting themselves to the film's production stating "You let our legends die".

[13] On October 1, 2022, in an episode with Drink Champs, Ice Cube revealed Warner Bros., who owns the distribution rights of the film series, had rejected the scripts, citing creative differences, and while Tucker previously stated he is not committed to return for the film, Ice Cube is still in good relations with Tucker, with the latter to reprise his role as Smokey uncertain.