UPDATE: 2024/06/09 07:34 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN

Bad Boys: Ride or Die Exceeds Expectations With Improved Sunday Projections and a Solid International Gross

This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with altered box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.

Summary

• Bad Boys: Ride or Die is projected to earn an opening weekend of $53 million at the domestic box office.
• This is the second-best opening weekend of the franchise, behind 2020's Bad Boys for Life.
• This opening weekend exceeded expectations considerably and could be the start of an uptick in summer box office.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die release comes four years after the previous entry earned $426.5 million in theaters, becoming the highest-grossing movie in the franchise, in addition to being the third highest-grossing movie of 2020 worldwide.

Per Deadline, the projected 3-day opening weekend domestic gross for Bad Boys: Ride or Die as of Sunday morning is $56 million. This has far exceeded the movie's original expectations from distributor Sony Pictures Releasing, who previously posted debut projections of just $30 million. In addition to nearly doubling that original number, this opening weekend total gives the new movie the second-highest 3-day debut of the franchise so far, behind Bad Boys for Life. Globally, it has earned $104.6 million, already making back its $100 million budget in just three days.

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Tops The Domestic Box Office Chart

The Rest Of The Weekend's Box Office Top 5 Has Been Shaken Up

Because of its propulsive start out of the gate, the Bad Boys: Ride or Die box office has naturally claimed the No. 1 slot on the weekend's domestic box office chart. Although its current projections could potentially rise even higher once the numbers are fully calculated on Monday, for the time being, it has blasted past the No. 2 title, which was the animated Chris Pratt holdover hit The Garfield Movie, by a difference of more than $45 million. Sony now secures the top two spots at the box office, as The Garfield Movie is in its third weekend with a total domestic gross of $68.5 million.

Below, see the full domestic Top 5 chart, featuring the most up-to-date Sunday morning projections:

Elsewhere on the chart, the new horror movie The Watchers debuted at No. 4 with $7 million. It boasts a thoroughly Rotten 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which may for this poor chart performance. However, the movie likely has a significantly lower budget than Bad Boys, which means it has a shorter road to success than the Will Smith action blockbuster. With these new movies debuting, two titles have naturally fallen off the chart, with The Fall Guy being bumped out of its No. 5 position and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga plummeting from last week's No. 3 slot.

There has been a lot of movement in the rest of the Top 5, with these two new titles shaking up the status quo considerably. While The Garfield Movie maintains its position in the Top 2, it has fallen back to No. 2 after taking No.1 the weekend after it made its domestic debut behind Memorial Day's No. 1 opening, Furiosa. This movement bumped last week's No. 2 title, IF, to No. 3, while Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes fell slightly as well, going from No. 4 to No. 5 in its fifth weekend.

Could Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Finally Kickstart The Summer 2024 Box Office?

May 2024 Was Rocked By Theatrical Disappointments

The Ride or Die box office is so far one of the first major success stories of the 2024 summer movie season, which loosely runs from May through July. It is no small feat for the new movie's opening weekend to rank so highly among the popular franchise, which has had a string of successful hits through the decades since its inception. Below, see how the new movie's opening weekend compares to the debuts and the overall worldwide box office totals of the previous Bad Boys movies:

This success, which could be the result of the Bad Boys: Ride or Die cast bringing back many long-running legacy characters, is a much-needed balm for the box office after a rough May. Although the month featured blockbuster tentpoles, including Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Garfield Movie, The Fall Guy, and IF, only Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes proved to be a summer-sized hit with its $342.2 million gross. The performance of the other movies has ranged from decent to lukewarm to outright grim, with Furiosa and The Fall Guy both struggling to make their budgets back.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga cost $168 million while The Fall Guy cost between $125 and $150 million.

However, Bad Boys: Ride or Die could be a portent of better things to come. While the post-strike Hollywood slate is still somewhat thin, leading to a relatively quiet weekend on June 21, things could still be looking up. With the Pixar sequel Inside Out 2 set to premiere next weekend before June closes out with the blockbuster horror sequel A Quiet Place: Day One, it is possible that the June box office could look much healthier than the previous month.

Source: Deadline