Summary
Bad Boys: Ride Or Dieis a major box office success, and the reasons for this are even greater after recent flops. Due to the high variance in terms of performance that movies have experienced at the box office in 2024, more eyes turned to the continuation of theBad Boysmovie franchise. The fourth film starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence had big expectations, but underperforming titles likeThe Fall GuyandFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagabrought increased skepticism. This even led Sony to lower projections forBad Boys: Ride or Die’s opening weekendat the box office.
Luckily, the fears thatBad Boyscould join the list of 2024 flops have avoided becoming reality.Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s box office came in higher than anticipated for its opening weekend. The sequel earned $56 million domestically, with an additional $48.6 million coming internationally.Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s $104.6 million opening weekend worldwideis a huge win for theaters after arecord low May 2024 box office. The movie becoming a box office hit is not an accident or a matter of luck. There are good reasons forBad Boys: Ride or Die’s box office and success.
Every Bad Boys Movie, Ranked Worst To Best
The Bad Boys movies are still going strong almost three decades after the release of Bad Boys in 1995, and they only seem to get better.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s success should not be a surprise given the franchise’s history. TheBad Boysmovies have always fared well at the box office. The original film made over $140 million back in 1995, but that would amount to roughly $290 million adjusted for inflation.Bad Boys IImade $273 million in 2003, which would be roughly $465 million adjusted for inflation. Audiences also responded positively toBad Boys for Lifein 2020, as it made $424 million.
With each of the previous installments doing well financially,Bad Boys: Ride or Diedoing so well makes sense.This is a franchise that audiences have consistently shown an interest in experiencingin theaters and paying to do so.Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s strong start puts it on a path to find more success. It ensures that theBad Boysfranchise will break the $1 billion milestoneby the time the theatrical run ends too.
$141,407,024
$290,931,033
$273,340,010
$465,789,203
$426,505,244
$516,707,256
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
$104,600,000
N/A
Continuing theBad Boysfranchise’s successful run at the box office also makes sense considering how well the last installment in particular did.Bad Boys for Lifeshattered expectations upon its release by making $424 million worldwidebefore COVID-19 shut down theaters. This was done with the film’s January release window and lacking competition, but the film’s performance was good enough to become the franchise’s highest-grossing release.
The fact thatBad Boys: Ride or Dieis experiencing similarly great results at the box office lines up then. Audiences welcomed back Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett with open arms. There was quite a clear demand to see the franchise continue. Even with four years passing between the films, the carryover fromBad Boys for Life’s success remained for the fourth installment. NowBad Boys: Ride or Diewill attempt to break the franchise record.
Will Smith Is Still One Of Hollywood’s True Movie Stars
There is no doubt that Will Smith’s status as the star ofBad Boys: Ride or Diebrought in more audiences too. He became one of Hollywood’s biggest and most bankable movie stars throughout his career. He’s always found success with theBad Boysmovies, but his reach extends well beyond. Whether its theMen in Blackfilms,Independence Day,Hancock, orI Am Legend,Smith has established himself as someone audiences want to see in big action movies that play in theaters.
His status as a movie star was reaffirmed ahead of hisBad Boysreturns. He played a pivotal part inSuicide Squad’s box office success, as well as turning Disney’s live-action remake ofAladdininto a $1 billion hit. Hollywood has mostly shifted into a state where movie stars are few and less guaranteed to deliver box office hits. But, Will Smith clearly is still an actor audiences know and want to see more of. The Oscar-winning actor has mass appeal across all demographics.
How Old Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey Is In Each Bad Boys Movie
Will Smith has starred as Mike Lowrey at a variety of different ages in all four of the Bad Boys movies, which premiered between 1995 and 2024.
The Box Office Already Surpassed Its Budget
The full story ofBad Boys 4’s box office is aided by the smart financing for the sequel. Sony greenlit the sequel with a bigger budget than its predecessor, butBad Boys: Ride or Die’s budgetis still only $100 million. This marks a small increase fromBad Boys for Life, but it is still well below the higher budget Michael Bay had forBad Boys II. It is thanks to this frugal approach thatBad Boys: Ride or Diehas already earned back its budget at the box office in only the opening weekend.
Bad Boys II had the franchise’s highest budget at $130 million
The film might still need to make more to break even or be profitable, but the lower cost stands out based on Hollywood’s usual practices. Studios tend to go bigger with sequels and raise budgets substantially. Higher budgets have become so standard for the industry that $200 million price tags are far more common. But,Bad Boys: Ride or Diehas a lower target to be a success.It only needs to make $200 million to be profitable, which makes the $100 million opening great. The outlook would be drastically different if the movie cost $150-$200 million instead.
Another point inBad Boys: Ride or Die’s favor is that it is part of a very well-known franchise. Audiences have been able to watch the franchise grow over the course of several decades. The movies have retained their popularity over the years thanks to their rewatchability and impressive action scenes. Anyone wanting to see what happens next for Mike and Marcus has to check out the latest installment. This helped giveBad Boys: Ride or Diea natural draw for fans of the series.
Franchises have become even more powerful in Hollywood over the years, and that has stayed mostly true in 2024.Bad Boysis now part of the list of franchises with successful new entries released this year, joining the likes ofDune,Kung Fu Panda,Planet of the Apes,Ghostbusters, and the Monsterverse. These franchises have all found hits and proven the strength of the IPs. This makesBad Boys: Ride or Die’s success part of a larger trend for the industry instead of being an outlier.
Strong Trailers & Viral Marketing Helped
As if that was not impressive enough,Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s viral marketing has also been a big hit.Behind-the-scenes footage of Will Smithoperating a camera rig strapped to him for an action scene spread across the internet in the days leading up to the film’s release. It brought increased excitement and praise for the film and the ingenuity of directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. These types of decisions could help give audiences more reasons to rush out to theaters to see the movie.
Sequels Tend To Perform Better Than Original Movies, Prequels, Or Reboots
The Box Office Typically Favors Sequels
It is also worth noting how the box office tends to favor sequels, likeBad Boys: Ride or Die. The fivehighest grossing movies of 2024are all sequels. It will only be a matter of time beforeBad Boys: Ride or Diecrashes this list and adds a sixth to the top 10. This continues the sequel trend from recent years, where 11 of the top 20 highest grossing movies of 2023 were sequels. In 2022, it was eight out of the top 10, and it was seven out of 10 in 2021.
There is consistency across the years that supports the idea that sequels tend to perform well at the box office. There are certainly a number of original films, reboots, or prequels that have found success, including in 2024. And yet,Bad Boys: Ride or Diereinforces the idea that audiences want sequelsmore than the rest, or at least that these are the movies they are most willing to pay to go see in a movie theater.
It also likely helpedBad Boys: Ride or Diethat audiences know that this is a franchise that has always been released in theaters instead of streaming. All four of theBad Boysmovies were released exclusively in theaters. Audiences then have every expectation that the latest installments will be in theaters, and there is no major precedent for the studio quickly putting it on a streaming service. This provides extra motivation towatchBad Boys 4in theatersas opposed to waiting for its eventual streaming release.
This is not the case for some other franchises, though. Hollywood began shortening theatrical windows during the pandemic, and that even meant putting some new entries in major franchises directly on a streaming service. The impact of Marvel, DC, Pixar, and others having major new releases debut exclusively on streaming can be seen in how later titles underperformed. But, sincethere was never any question about whetherBad Boys 4would debut on streaming, the franchise has maintained its status as a theatrical event.
It Has A High Rotten Tomatoes Score
One of the biggest reasons forBad Boys: Ride or Die’s box office success is the audience response. There would not be strong ticket sales if audiences were not willing to or interested in watching the film. But, it helps thatBad Boys: Ride or Die’s Rotten Tomatoes scores reflect just how much audiences are loving it. The 63% Tomatometer score from critics is a drop from the previous installment, but it has a 97% Audience Score. It is with that mark thatBad Boys: Ride or Diebroke the franchise’s Rotten Tomatoes recordfor having the highest audience score.
Critics and reviews can certainly still impact audiences' desire to see new movies, but box office performance often comes down to how much the paying public actually enjoys the movie.The 97% Audience Score forBad Boys: Ride or Dieindicates that viewers are enthusiastically enjoying the franchise’s return. This not only helped contribute to the film’s big opening weekend, but it also should give the movie very strong legs moving forward in the summer.
It’s The Biggest Action Movie In Theaters
It also helps thatBad Boys: Ride or Diedid not have major competition at the box office. It opened opposite Ishana Shyamalan’s horror movieThe Watchers, but it theoreticallycould still have been competing with other action movies likeFuriosaandThe Fall Guy. However, the movies did not put up much of a fight duringBad Boys 4’s first weekend. Just domestically,Furiosaonly made $4.2 million, andThe Fall Guydropped down to $2.7 million. Both films were out of the top five and paled in comparison toBad Boys: Ride or Die’s $56 million.
Bad Boys: Ride or Diewas always going to outperformFuriosaandThe Fall Guyin its first weekend, but the movies' disappointing results previously made it no contest. Both of Hollywood’s other big action movies of the summer underwhelmed in their opening weekends. With audiences not responding to them, that leftBad Boys: Ride or Dieto be the first big action movie blockbuster of the summer. It’s $104 million opening weekend worldwide firmly established it as just that.
