Bad Boys: Ride or Die Jumpstarts Summer Box Office With $53 Million Opening

Bad Boys: Ride or Die has charged out to an impressive $53 million at the box office. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence probably didn’t plan on saving the summer’s movie haul projections with the sequel. But, it seems as though the Bad Boys are going to do it anyway. Bad Boys: Ride or Die managed to rake in $21 million on Friday after a Thursday take of $5.9 million. That’s a wild showing for an R-rated buddy cop picture that served as a “curiosity” for a lot of prognosticators. (Some of whom still are focusing on Smith’s personal missteps rather than being elated that its not all doom and gloom at the movies right now.)

While Bad Boys: Ride or Die probably won’t match the heights of Bad Boys for Life, which brought in $62 million during its opening weekend, the size of this win cannot be overstated. (It’s almost malpractice not to mention that the previous entry in Smith and Lawrence’s franchise debuted before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States and the world. Therefore, a completely different media environment for both distributors and guests alike!) Can Bad Boys: Ride or Die match the $426 million at the global box office that its predecessor did? It’s too early to tell. But, it’s off to a great start.

Is Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Good?

As people are heading to the theater to see Bad Boys: Ride or Die this weekend, some might be wondering if the sequel lives up to the previous entries in the series. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are in rare form for the fourth Bad Boys film and you can feel it on screen. ComicBook’s Kofi Outlaw reviewed Bad Boys: Ride or Die and said that the duo hasn’t been this funny together since the original film. He also praised the filmmakers for leaning into the character dynamics that characterized the original Bad Boys.

“It’s clearly a meta performance for Smith, who has endured years of controversy off-screen between Bad Boys 3 and Bad Boys 4, while for Lawrence it seems that he’s finally comfortable being back in the saddle as a comedic movie star, as opposed to how Bad Boys for Life clearly dealt in part with the challenges of his late-game return to acting,” Outlaw argues.

Our critic claims, “The pair haven’t been this funny since the first Bad Boys, which also leaned into the idea of Lowrey and Burnett having to switch personalities, as one impersonated the other. Jacob Scipio gets to have much more fun as Armando this time – especially when the film adds him into the mix with Smith and Lawrence, creating an entirely new three-way dynamic of banter and jokes.” 

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