‘Bad Boys for Life’ Stays No. 1 Over Super Bowl Weekend

(Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp.’s “Bad Boys for Life” remained No. 1 at the box office during a sluggish stretch for Hollywood releases, holding on for a third straight weekend. Its biggest competition was the Super Bowl taking a bite out of movie ticket sales.

• The film, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, held off newcomers from Paramount and United Artists Releasing, taking in $17.7 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters, researcher Comscore Inc. said Monday. Analysts had expected about $18 million.

Key Insights

• Studios shy away from releasing big movies during the Super Bowl weekend, but the continued strength of “Bad Boys” helped revenue post an improvement from last year. Sales for the weekend’s top 10 films rose 24% from the same weekend of 2019, when the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams.

• New releases this weekend, United Artists’ “Gretel & Hansel” and Paramount’s “The Rhythm Section” and landed in fourth and 10th places, respectively. “Gretel & Hansel“ generated $6.2 million while “The Rhythm Section” took in $2.7 million.
• In “The Rhythm Section,” Blake Lively plays a heroin-addicted prostitute who works with a special agent played by Jude Law to hunt down the terrorists who bombed her family’s plane. It’s directed by Reed Morano, who worked on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, who oversee the James Bond franchise. Most critics gave poor reviews to the picture.
• The fairy tale spinoff “Gretel & Hansel,” got a better reception, though still mixed. At under 90 minutes, the movie “needs a bit more meat on its bones,” writes the New York Times.

Get More

• See the weekend release schedule.
• See Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Nick Turner, Kevin Miller

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