Sony’s latest movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is the fourth film in the series starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as buddy cops. For its opening weekend across 3,850 theaters, it’s expected to earn between $30 million and $50 million. Predictions vary, with Sony suggesting a lower $30 million and other sources estimating closer to $45 million to $50 million. This movie is especially notable as it’s Smith’s first big film release since his incident at the 2022 Oscars, and it remains to be seen how this will affect viewer turnout.
Meanwhile, the series’ previous film, Bad Boys for Life, released just before the pandemic in 2020, made a surprising $62 million in its first weekend and eventually grossed over $426 million worldwide, making it the most successful of the series.
The fourth movie, directed again by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah with a budget of $100 million, follows detectives Mike and Marcus as they become fugitives while trying to expose corruption in the Miami Police Department. The cast includes Vanessa Hudgens, DJ Khaled, Eric Dane, and Tiffany Haddish.
'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' Review: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence Make the Franchise's Fourth Entry Tastier Than It Has Any Right to Be https://t.co/RWzw4xDV15
— Variety (@Variety) June 4, 2024
Also releasing this weekend is The Watchers, a supernatural horror film directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and starring Dakota Fanning, which anticipates a $10 million opening. The film features a 28-year-old artist who faces mysterious creatures in a remote Irish forest.
Overall, box office revenues have been down this summer, lagging 24% behind last year and over 40% from before the pandemic. Upcoming releases like Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 may boost June’s box office numbers.
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra attributes the recent box office slump to the lasting impact of COVID-19 and the disruptions caused by last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes. He expressed optimism about the film industry’s recovery, although he noted the challenges in achieving pre-pandemic levels of community engagement and cultural impact from new films. Source
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