Whenever a Sony movie comes in at No. 1, Tom Rothman drives his 1967 Ford Mustang to the Culver City lot and leaves it parked in front of the Thalberg building. But on Monday, there was a hitch after Bad Boys: Ride or Die opened to a victorious $56.5 million at the domestic box office: the red beauty wouldn’t start.
aThe chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group spent more than an hour tinkering and looking under the hood, but he gave up and decided against calling AAA. What did it really matter when the most important issue at hand — the film — had sped out of the gate much faster than anyone expected despite a terrible early summer for a number of movies and the Will Smith factor of it all (it is the actors’ first major studio film since he slapped Oscar host Chris Rock on live television in early 2022).
All eyes had been on Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (June 16), Illumination’s Despicable Me 3 (July 3) and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26) to carry out the summer box office rescue effort. Bad Boys 4 was mostly left out of the conversation, but the Smith-Martin Lawrence buddy action comedy could now become known as the film that kicked off the recovery thanks to their savvy and humorous-as-ever pairing.
“People needed to be reminded how much fun it can be to go to the movies. It is that simple. You’re already seeing that in word-of-mouth. Every day so far has been better than what we projected,” says Rothman. “I’ll paraphrase the great Cyndi Lauper, ‘summer audiences just wanna have fun!” Case-in-point: Bad Boys boasts near-perfect exit scores and an A- CinemaScore. Adds Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore: “this mostly underrated title finds itself in the position of representing a turning point in the comeback of the tumultuous summer season of ’24.”
In its first four days, Bad Boys 4 has already passed up Warner Bros.’ Memorial Day weekend release Furiosa: A Mad…
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