‘Bad Boys 4’ Box Office Shows Audiences Have Forgiven Will Smith for Oscars Slap

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in Sony’s hyper-violent buddy-comedy franchise, saved the summer box office with its better-than-expected opening weekend. Perhaps more notably, it proved that audiences have forgiven Will Smith for slapping Oscars presenter Chris Rock, more than two years after the event went down on live television.

Ride or Die grossed an impressive $56 million in North America and another $48 million in overseas territories for an opening weekend gross of $104.6M. It now holds the second biggest summer opening of the year. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes earned $58M during its North American opening last month.

Heading into the weekend, industry expectations had pegged Ride or Die’s opening somewhere between $45 million and $50 million. Sony was less bullish, setting expectations around $30 million, as the summer has already seen a few box office disappointments—such as The Fall Guy and Furiosa—which were thought to be surefire hits up until their release.

The inflated opening is great news for Sony but even better news for Smith, who hasn’t had a major theatrical release since he won the Oscar for King Richard in 2022. Of course, that accomplishment was overshadowed by Smith’s accosting of Rock on the same night, just minutes before the Best Actor trophy was presented, robbing the actor of a post-coronation victory lap.

The intervening years have seen Smith’s public reputation take an unfathomable hit, and for a time it was unclear whether Bad Boys 4 would even be made. Inevitably, the incident is addressed during a divisive moment in Ride or Die, in which Martin Lawrence’s character repeatedly slaps Smith and calls him “a bad boy.”

In recent weeks, per The Hollywood Reporter, Smith’s representatives had been reaching out to the major studios to see if there were any projects in immediate development that would be a fit for Smith. Sources say Smith and his team want to announce his next project in short order to capitalize on his comeback momentum. According to the outlet, “At least one major Hollywood studio is considering the actor for a high-profile project with branded IP if [Ride or Die] finds success.”

Smith had no reason to worry, as it seems audiences have already forgiven him; and audiences in general can’t seem to get enough of his and Lawrence’s buddy act.

Bad Boys for Life, 2020’s late-era sequel to 2003’s Bad Boys II, took in an impressive $73M over MLK weekend and became that year’s top grossing film—though pandemic theater closures played a role in that superlative. Directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi (credited as Bilall and Adil) took over for series mastermind Michael Bay on the third installment, and returned to helm Ride or Die.

The first three Bad Boys installments are streaming on Hulu and various rental platforms.