Bad Boys for Life helps Will Smith return with $56 million debut

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NEW YORK — “Bad Boys for Life,” the fourth film in the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence action-comedy franchise, opened in theaters last weekend with an estimated $56 million, giving Hollywood a much-needed summer blockbuster and Will Smith’s biggest coup since he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.

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Expectations for Ride or Die varied, given the dismal moviegoing market so far this summer and Smith’s box office clout, but in the end, Sony Pictures’ release came very close to or slightly above its expectations.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Ride or Die marks Smith’s first film preview since he was banned from the Oscars for a decade for The Rock in 2022. At the time, the Bad Boys movie was in production and was temporarily shelved, but ultimately went ahead with a production budget of around $100 million.

Smith stars in Emancipation , which was released by Apple, but the film, released in late 2022, was shot before the ban and had only a small theatrical release before its streaming release.

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Smith largely avoided soul-searching interviews looking back at his Oscars run this time around, instead making a brief red carpet promotional tour from Mexico to Saudi Arabia, where he attended what was billed as the country’s first Hollywood premiere. Smith, 55, has been one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars for years, appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and the YouTube series “Hot Ones” and making a surprise appearance at a Los Angeles movie theater on Friday.

Given that Bad Boys fell behind May’s disappointing Furiosa: The Mad Max Saga and The Replacement — both of which struggled to attract ticket buyers despite strong reviews — the opening of The Living Dead was a critical weekend triumph for the film industry.

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“When a movie does well, that’s the best news,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “We’ve been trying to figure out over the last few weeks, and even since the beginning of the year, why seemingly well-marketed, well-reviewed movies haven’t performed well, with a few exceptions. This is the spark that the industry has been waiting for.”

Ride or Die’s opening still hasn’t reached the box office of the last Bad Boys movie: 2020’s Bad Boys for Life. That movie opened to $62.5 million in January 2020. After the pandemic closed theaters, it became the highest-grossing film in North America that year, with $204 million domestically.

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Ride or Die grossed $48.6 million internationally. Despite mixed reviews (64% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences gave the film an A-. Black moviegoers made up 44% of the box office, making up the largest demographic.

The film, released 29 years after the original, stars Smith and Lawrence as Miami detectives again. The story revolves around uncovering a conspiracy to frame the late sheriff (played by Joe Pantoliano). In one of the film’s most striking scenes, Lawrence slaps Smith in the face and calls him a “bad boy.”

It’ll take more than Bad Boys for Life to get movie theaters back up and running, though. Box office revenue is down 26% this year from last year and more than 40% from pre-pandemic totals, according to Comscore. A major test will come next weekend, when Pixar’s Inside Out 2 opens. After releasing several Pixar films directly to Disney+, the studio is promising a traditional, long-running theatrical release this time around.

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Last weekend’s top-grossing film, “The Garfield Movie,” slipped to second place. The animated family comedy, also from Sony, took in $10 million in its third week, bringing its domestic tally to $68.6 million.

Another new release over the weekend, “Watchmen,” failed to resonate with audiences. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan, the horror film tells the story of a 28-year-old Irish artist trapped in a state of panic. The Warner Bros. release grossed $7 million from 3,351 theaters after poor reviews.

That allowed Ryan Reynolds’ imaginary friend fantasy What If to be the Third Place to take over in its fourth weekend, bringing Paramount’s domestic total to $93.5 million. In fifth place, Rise of the Planet of the Apes added another $5.4 million in its fifth weekend to take it to $150 million domestically and $360 million worldwide.

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