Sony is officially projecting a $40 million Fri-Mon MLK weekend opening for Bad Boys For Life. The Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-directed sequel will open on January 17, concurrently with the wide release debut of Universal’s Dolittle.
The tracking information suggests an opening above $40 million and potentially around $45 million, but some of that will depend on initial reviews. We’re talking about a $90 million-budgeted action sequel, so Sony doesn’t need to break records to break even.
The film reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the roles that helped make them, relatively speaking, movie stars. The first Bad Boys also introduced moviegoing world to Michael Bay, who also directed Bad Boys II in 2003.
The first Bad Boys, was a trendsetter in the 90s, in terms of being a $19 million-budgeted action spectacular where both of the leads were non-white, opened in April of 1995 with $15.5 million and legged it to $65.8 million domestic and $141.4 million worldwide.