Box Office: ‘Bad Boys for Life’ Rules Over ‘The Gentlemen’
By Rebecca Rubin
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – STX’s “The Gentlemen” proved no match for Sony’s “Bad Boys for Life,” which again left box office competitors in the dust after collecting $34 million in its sophomore outing.
Those ticket sales, pushing the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-led sequel past the $100 million mark, were easily enough to claim the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive weekend. The movie continues to impress and has generated $120 million in the U.S. to date.
Though “” had a respectable opening weekend, it’s likely that “” infringed upon the core demographic for “The Gentlemen,” another action comedy aimed at male audiences. It debuted in fourth place, pocketing $11 million from 2,165 venues. STX bought U.S. rights from Miramax for $7 million; VVS Films is distributing in Canada.
“The Gentlemen” has made $22.5 million at the international box office, where Entertainment Film, Roadshow and Miramax are handling its rollout.
The star-studded action comedy — directed by Guy Ritchie and featuring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam and Henry Golding — follows an American expat looking to cash out of his London-based marijuana empire. But expectedly, that plan doesn’t go off without a hitch. “The Gentlemen” has earned decent reviews and landed a “B+” CinemaScore from moviegoers, a majority of which were males over the age of 35.
Another new movie, Universal’s thriller “The Turning,” debuted in sixth place with $7.3 million, in line with expectations. Surprisingly, even with an “F” CinemaScore from audiences, “The Turning” had a bigger opening weekend than “Cats,” the studio’s recent big-budget flop that lost the studio around $100 million. “The Turning, based on a 1989 haunted ghost tale, centers on a nanny (Mackenzie Davis) tasked with taking care of two disturbed orphans (Finn Wolfhard and Brooklynn Prince).
In second place, Universal’s “1917” impresses again in theaters after adding a strong $15.8 million in its third weekend of wide release. Director Sam Mendes’ World War I epic, widely seen as this year’s Oscars frontrunner, hit triple digits this weekend with its domestic haul sitting at $104.2 million. Overseas, “” amassed $23.71 million from 50 foreign territories, bringing ticket sales to $96.6 million internationally and $200 million worldwide.
Another awards darling, Sony’s “Little Women,” is approaching a similar milestone in the U.S. Greta Gerwig’s take on the classic tale has made a sizable $93.75 million to date. The A-list adaptation placed at No. 8, bringing in another $4.7 million.
Universal’s “Dolittle,” the latest take on the vet who can speak to animals, landed at No. 3, pulling in $12.5 million for a domestic tally of $44 million. The family friendly adventure starring Robert Downey Jr. cost $180 million to produce, meaning it’ll need to play in theaters for a significant amount of time to avoid losing money. International moviegoers could prove beneficial in that respect, though “Dolittle” has earned just $46 million in foreign markets. So far, the film has brought in $91 million at the global box office.
In box office milestones, Disney’s “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” surpassed the $500 million mark, one of 15 films to ever reach that benchmark. Globally, the final film in the sequel trilogy has made $1.046 billion.
Elsewhere, another awards favorite, Neon’s “Parasite,” has become the specialty studio’s highest grossing film to date with $30 million in North America.
Through the last week in January, overall domestic box office sales remain up over 12% from 2019, according to Comscore. Theaters are expected to get another jolt in February when Warner Bros. comic-book adventure “Birds of Prey” graces the big screen.
