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.
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.
Sony’s global marketing, led by motion picture group co-president Josh Greenstein, blanketed high-profile live sports events throughout the pic’s campaign across NBA, UFC, MLB, soccer, and Indycar racing. Most notably, as the exclusive studio sponsor of the NBA Finals, they teamed with ESPN to create comedic spots featuring famed Miami pro athletes Jimmy Butler and Lionel Messi trying to join Smith and Lawrence as members of the Bad Boys.
There was also a big presence in the music space with places like Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, and a blown-out promotion with iHeart that included a Ride or Die Sweepstakes, morning show integrations, activations at the movie’s red carpet premieres, and custom entertainment report segments. There was a first of its kind soundtrack listening event and screening hosted by Spotify at their L.A. offices for influencers. Guests heard unreleased tracks from the soundtrack songs, including ”Light Em Up” by Smith x Sean Paul, and “Lights Out” by BIA x JID. Rapper BIA participated in a Q&A and guests were treated to an early screening of the movie.
Additionally, there were custom promos with Comedy Central, BET, The Shade Room, and Nightcap with Shannon Sharpe & Ochocinco.
Get a load at what was done with Comedy Central’s Reno 911:
The outdoor campaign included glow-in-the-dark black light billboards and walls that made the artwork pop at night.
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.
@khaby.lame Why are the Bad Boys always doing the most? 😂🚪🔒 BadBoys: Ride Or Die is exclusively in theaters this June @Bad Boys: Ride or Die @Sony Pictures #SonyPicsPartner
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