LOS ANGELES, Jan 20 — It took Sony 17 years, but the latest Bad Boys sequel appears to be paying off, taking in an estimated US$59.2 million for the start of a US holiday weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported yesterday.

Bad Boys for Life stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as wise-cracking detectives who reunite after years apart (Bad Boys II dates from 2003, eight years after the original Bad Boys) to take on a murderous Miami drug cartel.

Its North American ticket sales — estimated at US$68.1 million when today’s Martin Luther King Jr holiday is included — are nearly twice original predictions, according to Variety.com.

Another new release, Universal’s Dolittle, starring Robert Downey Jr, placed second with an estimated US$22.5 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period (US$30 million for the four days).

Dolittle, based on a beloved children’s book about a veterinarian who can talk to the animals, has been savaged by critics — who have called it "utterly lifeless,” "a quicksand of a movie,” and "shockingly unfunny.” 

The presence of Downey, hugely popular in the Marvel superhero films, and of an all-star voice cast including Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Antonio Banderas, Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer and Marion Cotillard, may have helped boost its fortunes.

In third was a film that has done rather better with the critics, last weekend’s box office leader, 1917, also from Universal. The World War I drama has booked US$22.1 million in ticket sales (US$27 million for four days).

One critic called the Sam Mendes movie, filmed as if in one long, continuous shot, a "protean display of virtuoso filmmaking.”

Despite a lack of big stars, it has won both the Golden Globe and the Producers Guild of America awards for best drama, and  is now seen as a best-picture favourite at the Oscars.

Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level, slid one spot from last weekend to fourth, taking in US$9.6 million (US$12.6 million). The action sequel stars Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Kevin Hart.  

Fifth spot went to Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, at US$8.4 million (US$10.6 million). Globally, the finale of the nine-film Skywalker Saga has now surpassed the US$1 billion mark.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

Just Mercy (US$6 million; US$7.5 million for four days)

Little Women (US$5.9 million; US$7.4 million)

Knives Out (US$4.3 million; US$5.3 million)

Like a Boss (US$3.8 million; US$4.5 million)

Frozen II (US$3.7 million; US$5.1 million) — AFP