In holdover news for the weekend, Bad Boys For Life again topped the weekend charts for the third time in a row. The Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action comedy earned $17.6 million (-48%) to deliver its 17-day national cume to $148.052 million. It’s currently the biggest-grossing”brand new” January launch, not counting Oscar year expansions such as American Sniper ($350 million), Chicago ($171 million), or Hidden Figures ($170 million) of all time. No, that doesn’t account for inflation, as both Taken earned $145 million and Paul Blart: Mall Cop earned $146 million in January of 2009. Star Wars: Special Edition earned $137 million in January of 1997, which could be approximately $260 million corrected. It was the biggest grosser in January for a few decades.
When it passes the $177 million, Bad Boys 3 will also be past the inflation-adjusted likes of Cloverfield ($80 million in 2008/$118 million corrected ), The Green Hornet ($98 million in 2010/$113 million adjusted), Kung Fu Panda 3 ($143 million in 2016/$151 million adjusted), Ride Along ($134 million in 2014/$148 million) and Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($146 million in 2009/$177 million corrected ), but maybe not M.A.S.H. ($81 million in 1970/$479 million adjusted). And presuming it becomes beyond $192 million domestic, it will have sold more tickets than Bad Boys II that brought $138 million in 2003. Passing the Kung Fu Panda 3’s $517 million worldwide cume(including $154 million in China) to turn into the most prominent global grosser ever published in January is less of a sure thing.
Bad Boys 3 dropped less on its third weekend than Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 3 (-54% despite a Memorial Day weekend buffer). Still, it fell just a bit more than (in respective third weekends) Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout (-45%), Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s Hobbs & Shaw (-44%) and Cruise’s Mission: Impossible -Rogue Nation (-39percent ). In terms of 17-day totals, the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action-comedy is right between John Wick: Chapter 3 ($124 million), Hobbs & Shaw ($134 million), Rogue Nation ($138 million) and (far before the package ) Fallout ($161 million). John Wick 3 did not recover its post-debut footing till its fourth weekend. Mike and Marcus will soon be confronting friends and Harley Quinn beginning on its fourth weekend.
Presuming it follows the course of the films discussed above, it is still on track for a final gross between $205 million and $175 million. So, yes, it might pass the $192 million adjusted-for-inflation complete of Bad Boys II in the end, if not (barring a miracle) the $214 million corrected cume of Enemy of the State ($110 million in 1998). Yes, it may take a hit from Birds of Prey next weekend, but possibly only next weekend. If The Meg and Mission: Impossible – Fallout can thrive concurrently in July/August of 2018, I am of the mind that a well-reviewed/well-liked Bad Boys For Life and a (theoretically) well-reviewed/well-liked Birds of Prey can equally reside their proverbial best lives, particularly with the little rivalry between now and March.
The R-rated activity sequel has grossed $291 million globally, which is well above the unadjusted $273 million gross (in 2003) of Bad Boys II (and today brings the film’s domestic/overseas divide to 50/50). The $517 million worldwide cume of Kung Fu Panda 3 is probably out of reach, but a ) that movie earned $154 million in China and B) Bad Boys for Life only cost $90 million. It is a gloriously blockbuster, an under-$100 million movie that doesn’t need to appeal to everyone and can be hit $300 million worldwide. That is the sandbox once occupied by The Rock, Enemy of the State, and Face/Off. Its structure, such as an emphasis on personality within a scene, is part of its performance.
