LOS ANGELES, June 10 — Will Smith marked his first major film hit since his infamous Oscars slap as Bad Boys: Ride or Die debuted atop the North American box office, in a sign audiences are ready to welcome back the actor. Sony’s fourth instalment of the action comedy series took home an estimated US$56 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported, making it a major step in Smith’s career rehabilitation after he slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards in 2022. “ Bad Boys is in elite company and the series has room to run.
These are excellent numbers,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. The success is a welcome departure from Smith’s 2022 action release Emancipation , where his role as a runaway slave in the American Civil War failed to resonate with audiences and flopped at the box office.
Bad Boys snatched first place from Sony’s family-friendly The Garfield Movie , starring Chris Pratt as the lazy, lasagna-loving feline, which dropped to second place with US$10 million in ticket sales for the Friday-through-Sunday period. In third and taking in US$8 million was Paramount’s If , which follows Cailey Fleming as a young girl who, along with neighbuor Ryan Reynolds, embarks on an adventure to reconnect forgotten made-up playmates with their children. Warner Bros horror film The Watchers opened in fourth place at US$7 million, while 20th Century’s action sci-fi Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ranked fifth at US$5.
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