Another weekend, another top spot for Bad Boys for Life. Going into the weekend though, it was thought there could be some competition from The Rhythm Section as the traditionally slow Super Bowl weekend could see earnings of the top films being a lot closer. Unfortunately, Paramount’s spy thriller starring Blake Lively could only find the brown note with audiences as it utterly tanked. With just a $2.8 million debut in tenth place on the domestic charts, The Rhythm Section has a per theatre average of just $918 from 3 024 cinemas. That gives it the all-time worst opening ever for a film over 3 000 venues in the US. Unless something miraculous happens when the film debuts internationally over the coming weeks, Paramount will have to face the music early that this is not the franchise starter the studio had hoped for.
There was one other newcomer this weekend past, and revisionist horror-fantasy Gretel and Hansel at least managed to do better as it opened in fourth place. That’s where the relatively good news ended though as the film could only manage a debut on the lower end of industry predictions with $6 million. It just barely edged out The Gentlemen and Jumanji: The Next Level for a respective fifth and sixth place though, with less than $50 000 dividing the three films.
As for Bad Boys for Life, the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop franchise revival retains its no.1 position on the US box office charts for the third weekend running. Sony’s surprise hit added another $17.7 million to take its domestic total to $148 million. It also earned an additional $30.8 million from international markets giving the long-awaited sequel a very respectable $271 million worldwide total. That surpasses Bad Boys II to make it the highest earner in the franchise’s history. And that’s after just 17 days
Let’s see what the rest of the US box office chart looks like:
| No. | Movie Name | Weekend gross | Percentage change | US Domestic gross | Worldwide gross | Last Week's Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bad Boys for Life | $17.7 million | -48% | $148 million | $290.7 million | 1st |
| 2 | 1917 | $9.6 million | -39% | $119.2 million | $249 million | 2nd |
| 3 | Dolittle | $7.7 million | -37% | $55.2 million | $126.6 million | 3rd |
| 4 | Gretel & Hansel | $6 million | NE | $6 million | $6 million | NE |
| 5 | The Gentlemen | $6 million | -43% | $20.4 million | $48.4 million | 4th |
| 6 | Jumanji: The Next Level | $6 million | -22% | $291.2 million | $746.1 million | 5th |
| 7 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | $3.1 million | -42% | $507 million | $1.058 billion | 7th |
| 8 | The Turning$3 million | -56% | $11.7 million | $14 million | 6th | |
| 9 | Little Women | $3 million | -34% | $98.7 million | $162.8 million | 8th |
| 10 | The Rhythm Section | $2.8 million | NE | $2.8 million | $2.8 million | NE |
NE = New Entry
Last Updated: February 3, 2020
Big Jon V
February 3, 2020 at 12:31
Bad Boys For Life undoubtedly deserves that spot. While having some absolutely moronic moments (Martin Lawrence spends 3/4 of the film saying “Oh Sh$*” while Will Smith takes another corner on the skid), numerous macguffins and suspend your disbelief moments, it’s exactly what I wanted and then some. 17 years after Michael Bay used the second film to baseline his intentions for the (then) upcoming Transformers movies, this installment delivered fun, funny moments in spades, with cool cinematics and leveraging Miami and latin-American culture to round out the mix. Honestly my favourite things to come out of 2020 so far.
Kervyn Cloete
February 3, 2020 at 13:32
I know the year has just begun, but it’s the current frontrunner for best surprise of the year