‘Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’ Posts $5.9M In Thursday Previews – Box Office

Frank Masi/Sony

Sony‘s R-rated Bad Boys: Ride or Die did $5.875M yesterday at previews that began at 3PM, an amount of cash, which actually is 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 — there hasn’t been any 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 and 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 3-day of $62.5M and 4-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.

We’re waiting on previews for New Line‘s PG-13 rated The Watchers, which is the feature directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan. However, not only are reviews sour at 29% Rotten, but the PostTrak exits were really bad at a star and a half, and 52% positive. Yikes. This despite a rather even turnout among all age demos with 36% men over 25, 24% women under 25, 20% women over 25 and 20% men under 25.

The rest of Thursday shook out as follows:

1.) 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