Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Aims To Bring Will Smith Back To Box Office Glory

As a very bad summer movie season at the box office drones on, it looks like Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are going to do their very best to save the day. Sony's "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" hits theaters next weekend and will look to reignite the box office after a particularly quiet, post-Memorial Day weekend. While Will Smith is no longer the surefire bet he once was in the '90s and early 2000s, in the early going, it looks like this one will be a winner for the A-lister and his co-star Martin Lawrence.

Directed once again by "Bad Boys for Life" duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the upcoming fourth entry in the "Bad Boys" franchise is going to easily top the charts on its opening weekend with a debut in the $48 to $58 million range, per Box Office Theory. While the budget has yet to be revealed, it feels safe to assume that Sony would try to keep "Ride or Die" in the same range as the previous entry, which cost $90 million to produce. While that's still expensive, even at $100 million it would be far less than the average blockbuster these days, which can easily cost $200 million or more.

With "Furiosa" entering its third weekend, audiences will be ready for a new blockbuster to enter the fold. Especially since George Miller's "Mad Max" prequel underperformed in its debut. All of this to say, nothing will be standing in the way of Smith and Lawrence's fourth "Bad Boys" delivering the goods. While full reviews have yet to drop as of this writing, early buzz from critics screenings has been largely positive.

"Bad Boys for Life" sees the return of Smith and Lawrence in another cinematic adventure full of action and comedy but this time with a twist: Mike and Marcus are on the run this time. The ensemble also includes Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Rhea Seehorn, Tiffany Haddish, and Joe Pantoliano.

Arbi and Fallah delivered the goods with 2020's "Bad Boys for Life." Despite Michael Bay not being in the director's chair for the third entry in the franchise, it was met with surprisingly great reviews and opened to $65.5 million, eventually pulling in $426.5 million worldwide. Its $206.3 million domestic gross made it the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of 2020 since theaters around the country shut down for most of the year due to the pandemic. Sony was eager to get another entry going with the core creative team returning.

The big question mark this time is Will Smith. While he remains a popular A-list star, this is the first big theatrical release that Smith has been attached to since his now-infamous slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022. Has enough time passed in the eyes of the moviegoing public? If so, this could be Smith's first true theatrical hit of the pandemic era. He did win Best Actor for his work in "King Richard," but the movie itself was kneecapped at the box office because of the pandemic and its HBO Max release.

Current projections have this film opening a little lower than its predecessor. Even so, if it can get to $300 million worldwide, Sony can easily call this a win. A $50 million opening – give or take – would set it up to do precisely that. Especially since the following weekend's big releases are "Inside Out 2" and "The Watchers." One is firmly aimed at family audiences, and the other is a mid-budget horror movie. If all goes well, this should/could be one of the bigger R-rated hits of the year.

"Bad Boys: Ride or Die" hits theaters on June 7, 2024.