The Bottom Line: January 18, 2020: DOLITTLE Opens & Will Smith / Martin Lawrence Return in BAD BOYS FOR LIFE

The Bottom Line: January 18, 2020

Thank goodness I didn’t put any money on my predictions for last week’s box office winners and losers.

Box Office Top Five

While I didn’t do too bad, 1917 did topple Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker from first place on its debut night — I predicted it wouldn’t do so until this coming weekend — and didn’t leave the number one spot all week, earning $78,416,984 since it’s limited release at the end of December. On Thursday, Bad Boys for Life took over the number one spot and now it hasn’t left the first place since then, earning $23.5 million dollars and it’s only Saturday. Bad Boys for Life will absolutely dominate this weekend and while Dolittle should make a strong showing, early numbers show it’s not as strong as it could be compared to its production costs (earning $6.3 million so far).

On Thursday, Weathering With You had pushed Star Wars down a little further to third place, opening with $1,445,534. The Japanese animated romantic fantasy feature film is directed by Makoto Shinkai. It was a brief showing because it’s not even in the Top 10 the next day.

A Closer Look at Some of this Week’s Films

Dolittle (PG) 101 minutes: He’s played Tony Stark for so long it’s hard to think about Robert Downey Jr. in any other role, but this weekend he opens in Doolittle, a story about Dr. John Dolittle, who speaks to exotic animals and then embarks on an adventure to save a sick Queen Victoria. Directed by Stephen Gaghan, it has a hefty $175 million budget and its opening receipts might be an early indication of a not-so-good weekend for it, but considering that the only other family-friendly movies still out right now are Little Women, Star Wars, and Frozen II, it might get a boost from families looking for something to see. I still don’t understand the accent, but honestly, I’m a fan of RDJ and I’ll shamelessly admit that I’ll see him in this regardless and probably twice.

Bad Boys for Life (R), 123 minutes: If you are heading to the theater thinking this is the swan song for the Bad Boys franchise, think again. There is a Bad Boys 4 in the works, so why they called this one Bad Boys for Life is beyond me. That would have been a great name for the final movie as they Thelma and Louise it in the car…oh, wait, no that’s not good. Come close to the computer as I share a little secret with you. Psst, I haven’t seen one of these movies. I know! I’ve seen many Will Smith movies and have even written a biography about him, but have not seen this one. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s already killing it at the box office and expectations have actually been increased for its final total at the end of the weekend.

Bad Boys for Life (R), 123 minutes: If you are heading to the theater thinking this is the swan song for the Bad Boys franchise, think again. There is a Bad Boys 4 in the works, so why they called this one Bad Boys for Life is beyond me. That would have been a great name for the final movie as they Thelma and Louise it in the car…oh, wait, no that’s not good. Come close to the computer as I share a little secret with you. Psst, I haven’t seen one of these movies. I know! I’ve seen many Will Smith movies and have even written a biography about him, but have not seen this one. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s already killing it at the box office and expectations have actually been increased for its final total at the end of the weekend.

The Bottom Line

Bad Boy fans (along with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence fans) will be happy this weekend as will hardcore Robert Downey Jr. movie lovers. For the people that fall outside of those ranks, they have most-if-not-all of the Oscar-nominated films in-theaters to choose from this weekend.

Movies To Look Forward To

The Gentlemen (January 24), Turning (January 24), Gretel & Hansel (January 31), The Rhythm Section (January 31), Birds of Prey (February 7), and Sonic the Hedgehog (February 14).

You won’t have much more to choose from next weekend with the openings of Color Out of Space (January 22) and The Gentlemen (January 24). It might be a good time to watch those that are nominated for an Oscar so you can make your own predictions before the awards show airs on February 9.

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