‘Bad Boys’ of Summer Are Back in Theaters
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The bad boys of summer are back. And Sony hopes that with enough blood, guns and car chases, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will bring some real box-office heat to a summer movie season that’s been cool toward most of the sequels parading through theaters in recent weeks.
Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys II” should have little trouble beating its competition — meaning the other new releases as well as last week’s holdovers, which are sure to fall at least 35 percent.
Reteaming Smith and Lawrence with the blow-’em-up producer-director team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, the R-rated 2 1/2-hour epic of destruction is banking on the success of the original 1995 film that made movie stars of the acting duo. The original reaped $65.8 million domestically after a $15.5 million opening weekend.
Considering that the stars have gained massive appeal in the eight years since “Bad Boys,” industry executives are predicting that the sequel will gross $40 million to $50 million in its first weekend.
This time out, the story centers on two cops charged with breaking up a dangerous drug ring, only to find their personal issues getting in the way. “Boys II” co-stars Gabrielle Union and Joe Pantoliano and was written by Jerry Stahl, John Lee Hancock and Ron Shelton. It will bow in 3,186 theaters.
For a different take on the action hero who must solve the world’s woes, Universal Pictures will release Working Title Films’ “Johnny English” to U.S. audiences after scoring big with the “Bond meets Bean” film in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.
Star Rowan Atkinson, best known for his bumbling Mr. Bean character, has been transformed, slightly, into a bumbling secret agent thrown into a case involving Britain’s queen and the potential loss of her throne.
The PG-rated film could benefit from Atkinson’s growing U.S. popularity after starring in “Rat Race” and “Bean” and being featured in “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” but industry executives don’t expect the film to cross the $10 million mark. Co-starring Natalie Imbruglia and John Malkovich, “English” arrives in 2,236 theaters.
The third wide release in the mix is targeting the recently underserved female PG-13 audience. The New Line-distributed romantic drama “How to Deal” is looking to capitalize on the teenage appeal of its star, pop singer Mandy Moore.
Centered on a high school student who is disillusioned with love after seeing many dysfunctional relationships around her, the film co-stars Allison Janney and Trent Ford.
Adapted by screenwriter Heidi Ferrer from the Sarah Dessen novels “Someone Like You” and “That Summer,” “Deal” is targeting an older audience than Buena Vista Pictures’ “The Lizzie McGuire Movie,” which bowed to $17 million in May.
But “Deal” stands more of a chance of getting lost in the shuffle of big-action movies that are filling theaters. Industry executives question whether the film will cross the $10 million mark.
In limited release, Miramax will bow “Dirty Pretty Things,” from director Stephen Frears (“High Fidelity”), in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Starring Audrey Tautou (“Amelie”), “Things” is about a bizarre hotel murder that must be solved by an illegal Nigerian immigrant, a Turkish chambermaid and a Chinese prostitute. The R-rated film was nominated for three awards from the London Film Critics Circle.
Fox Searchlight’s Australian film “Garage Days” debuts Friday in 23 theaters. The R-rated story of a young Sydney band trying to make it in the music business without tearing themselves apart, it is expected to find a solid audience in specialized markets.
Also arriving Friday are First Run’s “The Embalmer,” which centers on a woman entrenched in a doomed love triangle; Innovation Film Group’s comedy “The Anarchist Cookbook,” about a twentysomething slacker who starts his own anarchist group in East Dallas; and TriStar’s Japanese drama “The Sea Is Watching,” which features a screenplay by the late Akira Kurosawa.
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