It took Sony 17 years, but the latest ‘Bad Boys’ sequel appears to be paying off, taking in an estimated $59.2 million for the start of a US holiday weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.
‘Bad Boys for Life’ stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as wise-cracking detectives who reunite after years apart (‘Bad Boys II’ dates from 2003, eight years after the original ‘Bad Boys’) to take on a murderous Miami drug cartel.
Its North American ticket sales -- estimated at $68.1 million when Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is included -- are nearly twice original predictions, according to Variety.com.
Another new release, Universal’s ‘Dolittle,’ starring Robert Downey Jr., placed second with an estimated $22.5 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period ($30 million for the four days).
‘Dolittle,’ based on a beloved children’s book about a veterinarian who can talk to the animals, has been savaged by critics -- who have called it ‘utterly lifeless,’ ‘a quicksand of a movie,’ and ‘shockingly unfunny.’
In third was a film that has done rather better with the critics, last weekend’s box office leader, ‘1917,’ also from Universal. The World War I drama has booked $22.1 million in ticket sales ($27 million for four days).
One critic called the Sam Mendes movie, filmed as if in one long, continuous shot, a ‘protean display of virtuoso filmmaking.’
Despite a lack of big stars, it has won both the Golden Globe and the Producers Guild of America awards for best drama, and is now seen as a best-picture favorite at the Oscars —AFP