This week on TAVERN TALK by initial reaction we were lucky enough to have Fox 16's Michael Cook stop by and discuss STX's The Gentlemen with us, but in terms of box office it was Bad Boys For Life that continued to dominate the conversation. Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi's sequel to 2003's Bad Boys II ended its second weekend with $34 million which was enough for the Sony picture to repeat atop the weekend box office, dropping just -45.6% from the film's impressive debut over the holiday weekend last week. This strong performance pushes Bad Boys For Life's domestic total past the $120 million mark after only ten days in release with it now being less than $20 million away from becoming the highest grossing domestic release in the franchise. Needless to say, a fourth film is already in the works though there is question as to whether or not Fallah and El Arbi will return. Personally, while it was necessary for some young blood to reinvigorate the aging franchise if we're going to make a "Bad Boys Fourever" it would be nice to see Michael Bay return to his baby and close out the series that started his career. We're here to talk about The Gentlemen though, and in regards to the new Guy Ritchie flick the results were...not bad? Landing in fourth, The Gentlemen pulled in $10.6 million coming up just shy of the estimated $11 million Sunday projections held for the weekend on an estimated production budget of $18.4 million. Of course, this was never going to break out in the way last weekend's R-rated, action-fueled, male-centric romp did, but as far as Guy Ritchie gangster pictures go this feels par for the course. In early 2001 Snatch earned $30 million domestic on a $6 million budget while seven years later RocknRolla struggled to make $25 million worldwide on a budget of $18 million thus signaling why Ritchie quickly jumped to big studio fare with his Sherlock Holmes films earning a combined domestic total of almost $400 million and well over a billion worldwide before going through the cycle once more with financial disappointments in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ($107 million worldwide on a $75 million budget) and King Arthur ($148 million worldwide on a $175 million budget) and then returning to tentpole filmmaking with last year's live-action Aladdin adaptation which easily churned out a billion. Fortunately, to go along with an acceptable opening weekend The Gentlemen did receive a strong critical reception and a "B+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences. Internationally, Miramax still holds the rights and following a limited release in just a few markets over the past few weeks, this weekend saw The Gentlemen add another twenty territories where it earned another $3.1 million, pushing the film's early international cume to $22.5 million and a global total of $33.5 million with plenty of room to grow. As always, be sure to follow the official TAVERN TALK by Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!
Read my full The Gentlemen review.
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