“Bad Boys For Life: Ride or Die” Exceeds Expectations, “Ajosepo” Finally Becomes Nollywood’s Top Movie of 2024

The June 7-9 weekend was a blast for both Hollywood and Nollywood.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s latest outing on the Bad Boys franchise, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” exceeded box office projections to become the top movie at both the U.S. and international markets, including Nigeria.

After grossing over $16 million on Sunday, June 9, the opening weekend numbers of Sony’s action-comedy are clear: $56.5 million in the North American theater (which includes the United States and Canada) and $48 million in international markets, according to Box Office Mojo.

This cumulative opening gross of $105 million far exceeds analysts’ predictions of $70-80 million, securing its position at the top of the box office charts. As of the time of this writing, the movie has pocketed $223 million.

In Nigeria, Will Smith’s star power proved too hot for local competition as “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” raked in ₦18,584,000 on its first day and ₦20,253,826 and ₦25,211,399 respectively over the weekend for a whopping ₦64,049,270 3-day opening, per figures release by the. Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) on June 9.

Compared to the ₦63,298,300 opening of “Beast of Two Worlds (Ajakaju)” it means that “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” has overtaken the former’s title as the biggest opening of 2024.

Pending the release of updated figures by CEAN, the movie’s cumulative gross as of June 13 stands at ₦115 million.

Will Smith’s movie was not the only record breaker of the weekend.

Kayode Kasum’s romantic comedy, “Ajosepo,” which was already a hair’s length away from surpassing “Beast of Two Worlds (Ajakaju)” as the highest-grossing movie in Nollywood of the year, added ₦2,464,000 over the June 7-9 weekend—a 53% drop from the previous week—for a total of ₦251.4 million.

This achievement cements “Ajosepo” as the top Nollywood movie of 2024, a seat it further comforted by adding an additional ₦1.4 million over subsequent weekdays bringing its total to ₦252.8 million.

Kayode Kasum will undoubtedly relish the numbers. However, he would be wary of new and upcoming competition, particularly “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” “Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti” and July’s “Deadpool & Wolverine”.

Notably, “Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti”, despite facing stiff competition from Will Smith’s blockbuster, added ₦13 million over the June 7-9 weekend – a 34% drop – for ₦131.4 million in its fourth weekend and a ₦141 million cume as of June 13.

Regardless, it goes without saying that the hopes of this biopic about an elder stateswoman of the same name of unseating either “Ajosepo” or “Beast of Two Worlds (Ajakaju)” just got slimmer due to competition.

Meanwhile, Dolapi Adigun’s thriller, “Criminal,” released on May 31, experienced a 41% drop from its first week, grossing ₦8,865,972 and an additional ₦4,800,000 for ₦37.3 million total as of June 13.

With Will Smith’s domestic gross already past $4 billion, the splendid performance of the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise ($106 million versus the $97 million opening of 2020’s “Bad Boys For Life”), especially in the midst of a sluggish summer for Hollywood commercially, suggest that audiences have moved past the actor’s infamous slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony.

Its performance in Nigeria also speaks to the actor’s magnetic power still ranking high among both domestic and international audiences.

Although fiercely contested, “Bad Boys for Life: Ride or Die” is poised to become the highest grossing movie of the Nollywood year, pending the highly anticipated arrival of “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

With $223 million already secured, a 64% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and overcoming its $100 million budget within days, analysts are already touting the movie to surpass the $426 million finish of its predecessor and possibly become the highest-grossing film of Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s careers.