If you take a look at the list of movies and TV shows that are released in the United States, and the ones that are successful, you will find that comedy dominates the list. People love to laugh, and as the world becomes more and more troubled, with global warming, terrorism, and crime on the rise, there is a growing need for movies that distract people from these issues. Or help them deal with these problems in a way that doesn’t make them cry in despair.

As the country has a large African-American population, the number of movies catering to them is also quite high. While there are some dramatic and romantic movies in this space, a large number of them are comedy movies. And the actors who star in these movies are iconic and hugely popular figures in their own right. Think of Eddie Murphy, who was fantastic in the Nutty Professor movies, Norbit, and the Beverly Hills Cop series. There’s Queen Latifah, who is almost equally popular for her comedic timing and style. She has been in the Ice Age movies, as the voice of Ellie, she has her own talk show and was also part of the Barber Shop franchise (the second movie titled Barbershop 2: Back in Business).

Barber Shop has been a very popular series for its star, Ice Cube, who has many other comic successes under his belt. It is set in a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. The first film introduced Calvin (Ice Cube), who inherits a barbershop from his father, a cornerstone of life in America at one point. He discovers the true value of his inheritance only after selling it, as he realizes that it is a place for people in the community to come together.

The second Barber Shop movie took on the same premise and setting, and some of the same characters, and faced a new set of challenges. In this movie, the antagonists were urban developers trying to take down all the mom-and-pop stores to create a branded world. Ice Cube joined Queen Latifah for this film, although Anthony Anderson (lately seen on the hit TV series Blackish), who was in the former, was left out.

He makes a comeback in the comedy film Barber Shop: The Next Cut, reprising his role as JD This also has Nicki Minaj. The story is about the rise of violence and crime in the barbershop neighborhood. Calvin and the rest of the team decide to approach it his way.

Will this be the last movie in the series? That’s hard to say, since the previous film was released a decade before this one. Even if a sequel isn’t in the cards, a remake may appear a decade later.