Sony Puts Summer Back On Track As Will Smith & Martin Lawrence’s ‘Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’ Clocks $56M Opening – Sunday AM Update
SUNDAY AM FINAL: Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die had a great Saturday of $19.5M, -10% against previews/first day of $21.6M, for what’s shaping up to be a $56M opening. This is the highest-grossing R-rated opening since Oppenheimer last July, and Will Smith’s sixth-highest U.S./Canada opening overall of his career and his 18th No. 1 opening as a leading man.
For Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is his 8th No. 1 domestic opening. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-directed fourthquel beats its recent round of tracking of $40M+, but is also ahead of its initial $50M+ forecast from three weeks ago, proving there’s still life in moviegoing. Really. This is just the beginning of summer. Global was even bigger on Bad Boys 4 with $104.6M.
More from Deadline
‘The Watchers’ Review: Ishana Night Shyamalan’s Folk-Horror Tale Gets Lost In Its Own Plot
Will Smith Incites Fan Frenzy At Cinemark After Sneaking Into 'Bad Boys: Ride Or Die' Screening
That Friday to Saturday hold is very close to what Bad Boys for Life did, which was -8%. PLFs and Imax stateside delivered 38% of the gross. Imax only repped 9.3% of the fourth pic’s North America weekend, or $5.2M at 401 auditoriums. The fourthquel played through the night, with 32% made of the gross earned after 8 PM showtimes, per EntTelligence. Admissions for the Smith and Lawrence reteam were 3.9M, repping 53% of the domestic foot traffic, followed by The Garfield Movie with 9%, IF with 8%, and New Line’s bomb The Watchers with 7%, or $7M on the $30M negative pick-up, ouch. Global on the Ishana Shyamalan-directed movie is $11.7M.
Top five cities for Bad Boys: Ride or Die were New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and Chicago. AMC Southlake Pavilion in Atlanta is the top-grossing cinema in the nation with $155K so far.
Anyone obsessed that the Oscar slap would derail Smith’s career — um, no. Studies showed that Smith’s box office value among moviegoers would not tarnish post the controversial incident.
Another thing to crow about: Batgirl directors Adil and Bilall’s success this weekend comes in the face of conquering Watchers, a rival Warner Bros wide release.
Smith did a surprise appearance at the Baldwin Hills Cineplex over the weekend. Take a look:
As we told you throughout the weekend, Sony had the No. 2 movie in Alcon Entertainment’s The Garfield Movie, with a $10M third weekend, for a running total of $68.613 million through today.
Smith and Sony rolled out the global PR tour for Bad Boys: Ride or Die like D-day, covering three continents and ten cities, including Dubai, Riyadh, Madrid, Berlin, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Brussels, Amsterdam, New York, and Miami, with red carpet premieres in a bulk of ’em. Among the highlights there was a stunted arrival in Los Angeles on a double decker bus, with live performance by Smith, a turnout of 50k fans in Mexico City alone, and the first Hollywood premiere in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Get a load at what was done with Comedy Central’s Reno 911:
Natch, there were national appearances by the guys on Hot Ones, Fallon, Kelly Clarkson, Live with Kelly & Mark, Today with Hoda & Jenna, The Talk and Kimmel.
Smith can’t eat spicy wings:
A TikTok challenge was created inviting users to grab their “ride or die” and post fun videos to show how they’re a Bad Boy. Khaby Lame, who is the most-followed person on TikTok (162.5M Followers), had a cameo in the fourthquel and shot custom social content with Smith and Lawrence.
Across U.S. and 16 international markets, Sony engaged influencers with a huge social reach of more than 1.4 billion to support the release of the film, with the stars collaborating with many of them.
Updated diversity stats for Bad Boys 4 are 44% Black, 26% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Caucasian, and 8% Asian and 4% other. Sony held word-of-mouth screenings with 50+ African American partners in seven cities, including Miami, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and DC. Cast appearances on major broadcast, podcasts, digital, and radio programs outlets included Despierta America (Univision), Hoy Dia (Telemundo), EBRO in the Mornings, 7pm in Brooklyn, The Enrique Santos Show and Complex’s GOAT Talk. There was a Miami Takeover that included a star-studded red-carpet premiere, U.S. Hispanic media blitz across Univision and Telemundo networks, and a Miami Marlins appearance that included a first pitch from Lawrence.
Additionally, the City of Miami held a fan-centric Special Recognition and Celebration that declared June 6th “Bad Boys Day” across the county. Sony also tapped NBA Legend Carmelo Anthony and Head of Latin Music, YouTube/AJ Ramos for curated tastemaker screenings in NYC.
1.) Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony) 3,885 theaters, Fri $21.6M Sat $19.5M Sun $14.9M, 3-day $56M/Wk 1
2.)Garfield The Movie (Alcon/Sony) 3,959 (-149) theaters, Fri $2.87M Sat $3.95M Sun $3.1M 3-day $10M (-29%) Total $68.6M /Wk 3
3.) If (Par) 3,582 (-201) theaters Fri $2.33M, Sat $3.1M Sun $2.48M 3-day $8M (-24%), Total $93.5M/Wk 4
4.) The Watchers (NL) 3,351 theaters, Fri $2.9M Sat $2.35M Sun $1.75M, 3-day $7M/Wk 1
5.) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th/Dis) 3,155 (-295) theaters, Fri $1.5M Sat $2.2M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.4M (-40%), Total $149.77M/Wk 5
6.) Furiosa (WB) 2,984 (-880) theaters, Fri $1.2M, Sat $1.7M Sun $1.3M 3-day $4.2M (-61%) Total, $58.7M/Wk 3
7.) Fall Guy (Uni) 2,410 (-416) theaters, Fri $810K Sat $1M Sun $810K, 3-day $2.7M (-36%), Total $85.1M/Wk 6
8.) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship…(Fath/NL) 1,529 theaters, Sat $2.44M, Total $2.44M/Wk 1 (re)
9.) Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (re) (Fath/NL) 1,529 theaters, Sun $1.9M, Total $1.9M/Wk 1 (re)
10.) Strangers -Chapter 1 (LG) 2,016 (-511) theaters, Fri $578K Sat $712K Sun $550K 3-day $1.84M (-50%) Total $32.2M/Wk 4
EARLY SATURDAY AM WRITETHRU: More great news, knock on wood, that the marketplace is rebounding – a bit. Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die secured $21.6M yesterday on its way to a $53M opening. Some even have it a tad higher at $54M at 3,885 theaters. While that’s what tracking saw three weeks ago, the sour market poured cold water on those prospects. Turns out, initial tracking was right. This is all according to early AM estimates.
Updated Screen Engine/PostTrak exits are 5 stars, 90% positive, and a great 84% definite recommend with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and an A- CinemaScore (the previous three movies all received As).
Bad Boys for Life drew 58% under 35, with 42% Black moviegoers, 30% Caucasian, 18% Hispanic and Latino and 10% Asian American/other. The fourthquel, also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, showed 50% under 35 with 44% Black, 26% Hispanic and Latino, 18% Caucasian and 12% Asian American/other buying tickets. Those buying their tickets day of were 72% which tells you how much walk-up business this had, and which couldn’t be observed in some tracking (though some had a sense would occur).
RelishMix noticed an upbeat word of mouth out there with fans forgiving Will Smith post Oscar slap saying, “I’m glad Will Smith is back. His action movies never disappoint,” and, “Martin Lawrence is so funny and makes me laugh so hard like from deep, deep down inside funny.” Chatter relishes the balance between the action and comedic elements spotlighted in the trailer, with some feeling this is an improvement on the previous 2020 entry Bad Boys for Life, saying, “Last one was mid, but this one already looks and feels better like a Bad Boys movie”. Reports PostTrak, 35% of those who bought tickets came because of either Smith or Lawrence while 38% came because of the cast alone. Forty-two percent told exit polls that they came out last night because the fourthquel looked fun and entertaining.
As a genre, action adventure films can be packed with social star-power — especially The Fast Franchise. For Bad Boys 4, the super social media universe averages with cast are running above norms by 15% at 693.7M across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined which include Smith’s social machine which is throttling videos with over 150M views.
Other deets about Bad Boys: Ride or Die, overall 53% Male / 47% Female with 44% of the audience between 18-34 years old with the largest demo tied between 25-34 and 35-44 at 26% apiece. Bad Boys: Ride or Die played in the East, South and South Central with the AMC Southlake Pavilion in Atlanta the highest grossing cinema in the nation with $81K.
Sony’s second place brag, The Garfield Movie, is eyeing a $10.3M third weekend at 3,959, -26%, for a running total of $68.9M by Sunday. The reboot will soon pass the domestic take of the 2004 20th Century Fox movie which ended its run at $75.3M.
New Line’s The Watchers is still not being watched with an estimated $2.9M Friday, and $6.7M-$7.1M weekend. The Ishana Shyamalan feature directorial debut gets a C- CinemaScore and 57% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. RelishMix notices negative chatter: “Negative convo on The Watchers is limited to those turned off by M. Night Shyamalan’s involvement as a producer after being dissatisfied with many of his past cinematic ventures.” This despite the fact that the social media universe metrics at 150.7M are running 9% above first installment horror norms across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined.
Watchers diagnostics saw a low PostTrak of 55% positive, 36% definite recommend. Male leaning at 53% on this PG-13 movie with 27% of the audience between 18-34 years old and 32% of the audience 35+ years old with the largest demographic being 25-34 years old at 28%. The movie pulled in 45% Caucasian, 26% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black, 6% Asian and 5% other. The genre movie most predominant area was South Central, Mountain and West with the AMC Burbank the pic’s top grossing venue at $14K to date.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Exhibitors and distribution execs, even non-Sony ones, are breathing a sigh of relief as it looks like the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence fourthquel Bad Boys: Ride or Die is heading to $50M this weekend at 3,885 theaters. This is after a $20M-$21M Friday, which includes Thursday night previews of $5.9M. Last night’s evening shows were solid, and they held up against the first night of NBA Finals. Very good news after this summer has seen such notable event movies like The Fall Guy and Furiosa underperforming.
Bad Boys 4 has all the octane from PLFs and Imax screens.
Sony can crow further about its hold on the No. 2 spot this weekend with The Garfield Movie, which is seeing a third frame of $9M-$10M, -32%, for a running total of $68.6M on the high end by Sunday at 3,959 theaters.
Third place belongs to Paramount’s family movie IF, with a fourth weekend of $7.1M at 3,582 theaters after $2M Friday, -32%, for a running total of $92.6M by Sunday. That will be 1% ahead of Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy at the same point in time; that 2021 pic ended its U.S./Canada run at $121.6M.
Crashing in fourth place is New Line’s Ishana Shyamalan-directed thriller, The Watchers, with $3M today, including $1M previews, for what’s looking like a $6M-$7M start at 3,351 theaters. M. Night Shyamalan, who produced his daughter’s movies, also self-finances them and then sells them to the studio. In the wake of working with Universal, Warner Bros. attracted him over to its lot. I’m told that the studio shelled out $30M before P&A for The Watchers alone. This movie is not a Lionsgate genre thrifty price-profit special.
And by the end of this weekend, 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes from filmmaker Wes Ball can beat its chest for surpassing the domestic gross of the previous movie from Matt Reeves, 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes ($146.88M) with $150M. The highest-grossing movie of the summer so far will see a fifth weekend of $5.75M, -36%.
FRIDAY AM: Sony’s R-rated Bad Boys: Ride or Die did $5.875 million in domestic box office Thursday in previews that began at 3 p.m., a total that is actually only 8% off from the previews of the franchise’s previous long-awaited threequel, 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, which did $6.36M.
That’s a great start for Bad Boys: Ride or Die as it enters what has been an embattled marketplace due to lack of movie inventory from the strikes, not to mention a lack of mass-appealing movies — that is outside of Disney/20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which just crossed $144.3M. Audience reaction last night to the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence reteam was 5 stars and 88% positive on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak, while Rotten Tomatoes audience score stands at 97%.
Demos, which change throughout the weekend, were 36% Black, 29% Hispanic and Latino, 20% Caucasian, 10% Asian, and 4% other. Men over 25 were dominant at 40% followed by women over 25 at 38%.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die saw a $23.6M first day, which led to an ultimate best-in-franchise three-day total of $62.5M and a four-day of $73M, but keep in mind that the threequel was working off the heat of a 17-year gap between sequels, not to mention it was MLK weekend. If all goes well, Bad Boys: Ride or Die winds up north of $40M.
New Line’s PG-13-rated The Watchers, the feature directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan, is showing previews of $1M at 3,000 locations. That amount of Thursday night cash is on par with Universal’s Abigail. However, reviews are sour here at 29% Rotten, and the PostTrak exits were really bad at 1 1/2 stars, and 52% positive. Yikes. This despite a rather even turnout among age demos with 36% men over 25, 24% women under 25, 20% women over 25, and 20% men under 25. The projection for this movie heading into the weekend was $8M-$10M. Abigail opened to $10.2M off an 85% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
The rest of Thursday shook out as follows:
1.) The Garfield Movie (Sony) 4,108 theaters Thu $1.5M (-7% from Wed), Wk $21M, Total $58.6M/Wk 2
2.) IF (Par) 3,783 theaters, Thu $1.2M (-7%), Wk $15.9M, Total $85.5M/Wk 3
3.) Furiosa (WB) 3,864 theaters, Thu $730K (-38%), Wk $15.5M, Total $54.4M/Wk 2
4.) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th) 3,450 theaters, Thu $825K (-18%), Wk $13.1M, Total $144.3M/Wk 4
5.) Fall Guy (Uni) 2,826 theaters Thu $437K (-17%), Wk $6.3M, Total $82.4M/Wk 5
Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist (Fath) 1,098 theaters, Thu $602K, 2-day cume $2.4M/Wk 1
Best of Deadline
TV Cancellations Photo Gallery: Series Ending In 2024 & Beyond
2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
