Box Office: ‘Bad Boys for Life’ to Lead Weekend With $26 Million
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Sony’s “Bad Boys for Life” is dominating North American moviegoing with about $26 million at 2,155 sites, early estimates showed Friday.
Universal’s World War I epic “1917” will finish at a distant second with about $13 million in the wake of receiving 10 Academy Award nominations and the top film award from the Producers Guild of America on Jan. 18.
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STX’s launch of Matthew McConaughey crime comedy “The Gentlemen” is headed for third place with about $10 million — in line with forecasts — after taking in a moderate $725,000 at 1,885 North American locations on Thursday night. Universal’s second weekend of its costly family adventure “Dolittle” appears to be finishing fourth with between $9 million and $10 million. That leaves the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle with about $42 million in its first 10 days in North America.
Sony’s durable “Jumanji: The Next Level” is pegged for fifth place at around $7 million in its seventh weekend. That should edge Universal’s launch of the horror thriller “The Turning,” which looks to finish the frame with about $6 million at 2,571 sites, including a quiet $425,000 at 2,200 locations on Thursday night. The movie, based on Henry James’ 1898 novella “The Turn of the Screw,” stars Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard and Brooklynn Prince. Expectations have been for a launch in the $7 million to $9 million range.
“Bad Boys for Life” is the third installment in the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence franchise, which has been absent from multiplexes for 17 years. It beat expectations over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with $73 million and will finish the weekend at more than $110 million in its first 10 days.
STX spent $7 million for the U.S. rights to “The Gentlemen” from Miramax. McConaughey stars as an American expat looking to cash out of the marijuana empire he built in London. Guy Ritchie directed the starry cast, which includes Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell and Jeremy Strong.
Universal and DreamWorks are launching “The Turning,” which centers on a nanny tasked with taking care of two disturbed orphans. The movie, directed by Floria Sigismondi from a script by brothers Carey and Chad Hayes, is set at a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside.
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