It’s official: Bad Boys For Life has secure the second-best Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend opening ever with $59 million domestic. This is Will Smith and Martin Lawrence‘s third time teaming up as Miami cop detective duo Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett after a 17-year break since 2003’s Bad Boys II. Despite the dry spell in between franchise installments, Bad Boys For Life was still able to reel in audiences over the long holiday weekend with the promises of big action setpieces and banter galore between its leading stars.
Image via Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures is on a roll with their releases of late and Bad Boys For Life is just another sign of the studio’s successful slate. The A CinemaScore film averaged an impressive $15,675 per theater as it opened in 3,775 theaters nationwide. The third Bad Boys chapter also has the honor of the fifth biggest domestic January weekend ever, coming in behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, American Sniper and Avatar. Bad Boys For Life officially has the best domestic opening weekend of any movie in the Bad Boys franchise, too. Back in 2003, Bad Boys II earned $46.5 million at the end of its mid-July opening weekend. As for the original, 1995’s Bad Boys, the Michael Bay-direct flick earned $15.5 million when it opened the first week of April. Bad Boys For Life is also the best reviewed Bad Boys movie with a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. Bad Boys II sits at a 23% and Bad Boys has a 42%.
The MLK holiday weekend isn’t over just yet, so Bad Boys For Life is expected to do even better by adding to that $59 million and hitting a projected $68 million domestic total. Meanwhile, the film has opened to $37.3 million overseas. If Bad Boys For Life keeps it up internationally as well as on the home front, it will pass $100 million by the end of the long weekend. Considering this movie’s budget reportedly hovers in the $90 million+ range, this will be a massive and satisfying success for all involved.
Image via Universal Pictures
But for every new movie which opens to major fanfare, there is also a new movie which opens to major disappointment. Alas, such is life. Bearing the burden of poor reviews and financial woes is Dolittle, directed by Stephen Gaghan (Syriana, Traffic) and starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular Victorian-era vet who can talk to his animal patients. The Universal Pictures release earned $22.5 million domestic, averaging $5,422 per theater from 4,155 nationwide theaters total. Overseas, the family-friendly comedy earned $17 million from 42 markets. Dolittle earned a B CinemaScore and 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the months up to its release, Dolittle was mired in extensive reshoots, scheduling delays, and a title change. As such, expectations were extremely low considering the unofficial word on the street that getting Dolittle ready for theaters was a tough, rough road. This opening weekend will likely be nothing but heartache for Downey Jr.’s first non-MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame. Dolittle is projected to take in just $30 million total here in the U.S., a small portion of its reported $180 million budget. Universal is going to be left hurting especially since this opening weekend news comes on the heels of the catastrophe that was Cats, also a Universal release.
More to come (weekend box office chart below)…
| Rank | Title | Weekend | Total |
| 1. | Bad Boys For Life | $59,175,000 | $59,175,000 |
| 2. | Dolittle | $22,530,000 | $22,530,000 |
| 3. | 1917 | $22,140,000 | $76,756,984 |
| 4. | Jumanji/Next Level | $9,565,000 | $270,477,975 |
| 5. | Rise of Skywalker | $8,374,000 | $492,019,801 |
| 6. | Just Mercy | $6,000,000 | $19,612,643 |
| 7. | Little Women | $5,910,000 | $84,401,052 |
| 8. | Knives Out | $4,300,000 | $145,977,387 |
| 9. | Like A Boss | $3,840,000 | $16,923,588 |
| 10. | Frozen II | $3,717,000 | $464,868,690 |
