Columbia Pictures’ Bad Boys: Ride or Die has been cleared for a theatrical release in China, landing in cinemas there on June 22.
This is the second Bad Boys movie after Bad Boys for Life to play mainland China. Filmmakers Adil and Bilall return after that threequel with this fourthquel.
Bad Boys for Life had a China in August 2020 in the throes of Covid grossing only $3.2M. However, other Smith movies fared pretty darn well over there pre-Covid, i.e. 2012’s Men in Black 3 did $77.2M unadjusted for inflation and 2019’s Aladdin did $53.4M in the Middle Kingdom. Bad Boys for Life opened to $62.5M ($73M 4-day) stateside over MLK weekend 2020 before anyone knew a pandemic would shut down the business entirely for a year. The threequel went on to make $206.3M domestic, $426.5M WW.
On a investor call tonight, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra said, that he was confident about the box office prospects for Bad Boys: Ride or Die despite theatrical being in a funk during the early part of summer due to the aftermath of the strikes and Covid.
“We’re pretty sure it is going to be just fine,” he said touting the pic’s outlook. Domestic B.O. tracking has Bad Boys 4 at at $50M start which would be this summer’s second-highest opening after Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
“What really is happening is that people got out of the habit of going into theaters. As the marketplace begins to recover in terms of having big films, you’ll see people start to go to theaters again,” said Vinciquerra about the box office recession. “The second half of this year, you’re going to see quite a resurgence. One film will improve the odds of the next film. Starting in July you’ll see every week a big film coming out.”
“Once we get back into the normal cadence of producing films, I think you’re going to see the comeback. We may not get back to pre-pandemic level. It is more difficult to produce a film that generates cultural action within the community but we’re pretty optimistic about the next couple of years,” Vinciquerra added.
The Sony Boss added on the call not to declare superhero fatigue yet as we have to wait for Deadpool & Wolverine to open in late July.