This week, Will Smith faces a career referendum for his first movie since “The Slap.”
‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die” opens Wednesday in previews, and Thursday across the country. Few people have seen it yet, except for those who attended international premieres (like on in Riyadh) or in Los Angeles last week.
Tonight there’s a press screening in New York. Then the movie opens with little advance word. How will it fare? Is Smith free of The Slap?
So far, according to seating charts on Fandango, sales are slow. The Wednesday 7pm shows are mostly unsold at every hour. On Thursday, a more traditional preview night, things pick up ever so slightly. On Friday, the start of the weekend, AMC LIncoln Square maps show totally open theaters 7pm in IMAX and 8pm in the standard theater.
Overall, there’s no sense of excitement about “Bad Boys Ride or Die.” It could be that the international premieres pay off. Audiences in other countries probably don’t care about Smith vs. Chris Rock, or live violence on network television. They just want to see movie stars in familiar settings.
In the US, however, so far the new “Bad Boys” isn’t causing a stir. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow at 4pm — the latest it could possibly be — for the embargo on reviews to lift.
PS For some reason, the main music is credited to the Black Eyed Peas, without Fergie, a group popular in the mid 90s. Was this the best they could do?
