Bad Boys for Life Currently Projected for $40 Million+ Opening Weekend

Deadline.com reports that the upcoming January opening for is currently tracking at a $40-$45 million opening for its four-day Martin Luther King opening weekend. By comparison, Bad Boys II had a $46 million opening way back in July 2013.

Other similarly-themed action comedies such as Ride Along ($48.6 million) and Ride Along 2 ($41 million) had similar box office opening weekends.

While that figure may not seem like a lot for a big Will Smith action film, one thing the third Bad Boys movie has going for it is its lower cost. Deadline reports that the film has a budget of $90 million before P&A. That’s less than the second movie, which had a cost of $130 million and only ended up making $138 million domestic and $273 million worldwide. Not to mention, Will Smith’s power as a box office draw has significantly waned in recent years. Regardless, the budgetary risk on this film is considerably lower than the last Bad Boys movie.

The new sequel features Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprising their respective roles of police officers Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. The first film was released in 1995, helping to launch the film careers of Smith and Lawrence. The first film went on to make $141.1 million off a $19 million budget.

Bad Boys for Life is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with a story by Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan, and script duties by Chris Bremner, Craig and Carnahan. Jerry Bruckheimer, Smith and Doug Belgrad produced the project. The film hits theaters on January 17, 2020