(TMZ) Chris Tucker's money problems could be the best thing to ever happen to his movie career ... because the actor has been in serious talks with Ice Cube about reprising his role as SMOKEYYYYY ... so says the guy who played DeBo in the "Friday" series. Tiny Lister was hangin' out in L.A. this week -- when the scariest man in Hollywood told us ... Tucker flew him out on his private jet recently to discuss the possibility of getting the ORIGINAL "Friday" crew back together.
FYI -- Tucker shot into superstardom playing pot-obsessed Smokey in the original "Friday" back in 1995 ... and then refused to appear in any of the sequels, citing religious reasons.
But now, Lister tells us ... Tucker and Cube have a big pow-wow set for next week to discuss a 4th "Friday" film ... adding, "This is gonna be the big one."
Lister told us he and Tucker also talked about doing a sequel to the 1997 hit, "The Fifth Element."
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