Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Drives The Franchise Past A Billion Dollar Box Office Milestone – SlashFilm

“Bad Boys,” directed by Michael Bay and released in 1995, was Will Smith’s first lead role in a film, and is largely responsible for making Hollywood sit up and pay attention to him as a movie star, rather than just a sitcom star. At the time, Martin Lawrence had slightly more experience on the big screen, through the “House Party” movies, Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” and a theatrical release of his stand-up show “You So Crazy.” Their on-screen chemistry combined with Bay’s bombastic directing style shot “Bad Boys” all the way to $141.4 million at the worldwide box office, and in 2003 “Bad Boys II” came close to doubling that.

The real heavy lifter in this billion dollar achievement, however, is “Bad Boys for Life,” which holds the distinction of being the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office in 2020. Admittedly the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns played a big role there, but “Bad Boys for Life” nonetheless grossed $426.5 million worldwide — hence the fairly rapid turnaround on this latest sequel.

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” probably won’t climb quite that high (its opening weekend total was a few million behind “Bad Boys for Life”) but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it crack the $400 million mark globally. Nope, they’re definitely not too old for this s**t.