For me, I look at a project that has a story that's going to resonate in some way. It doesn't have to be about a message. It doesn't have to have some underlying theme of overwhelming importance.

It's exciting to me that Ride Along is a movie that has two African American leads, but it's even more exciting to me that it's not a movie about two African American leads. They just happen to be African American. It's a universal story. It's a story about a guy in love with a girl, and he's gotta get the approval of the overbearing, mean brother. That's a universal theme.

I'm looking for films that can resonate and hopefully have some level of critical importance but also have commercial viability and can put butts in seats. At the end of the day, that is the name of the game. And if you can find that perfect balance, then that's the sweet spot.

You want people to go see it by the hoards. And for there to be talk of the possibility of continuing the journey and the ride, if you will, with these characters that we spent so much time honing, and executing this film on all levels, is super exciting.

I never want someone to come out of one of my films and say, "Damn. I wasted an hour and a half of my life." I'm trying to avoid that.

I've never been in the position where that conversation is a serious conversation before the movie even comes out. On one side of it, that's so great because you've got such great potential. The other side of that is that there's a level of pressure. Now, that clearly means that there's an expectation level, from the studio side, potentially from the audience's side, and from our side.

It's always better if you can keep the bar low, and then exceed the expectation. When it's high, that makes the job even tougher. But, I think we're up for the challenge. We're ready.