Ride or Die Wins on a Record-Low June Weekend Box Office

Theaters will live to fight another day. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” (Sony) provided more than half of the gross this weekend, taking #1 with $56 million. That isn’t a record for the franchise (with previous films at lower ticket prices), but it is a critical victory for the industry at a time it desperately needs them.

Will Smith’s first wide release since his catastrophic Oscar behavior in 2022 represents a triumph for star power, franchise filmmaking, action titles, and titles that draw from minority audiences (over two thirds for the weekend were Black and Latino). Most of all, it was a vital sign that underperformance for highly touted summer films isn’t a given.

In the face of rising industry panic, an under-$40 million opening for “Ride or Die” (its 2020 predecessor opened to $62 million) could have ratched the doom and despair to toxic levels. Instead, it blew past tracking projections (that’s rare) of around $50 million at best. For once, weekend estimates increased after Thursday previews (and an A- Cinemascore).

In some utopian future, we can move past the glass half-full/half-empty caveats. That won’t be this weekend, though. The weekend’s total gross of $104 million is the weakest June weekend since the $98 million grossed in 2001. Adjusting to current prices, that is about $195 million today.

The problem is that “Ride or Die” rides alone. “The…