Despite older guys indulging greatly in Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s reteam Bad Boy for Life last weekend, STX and Miramax are hoping that there’s a little bit of spillover from that into Guy Ritchie’s R-rated all-star ensemble The Gentleman.
STX took U.S. rights from Miramax for $7M, and the hope is that the pic can clear $10M-$12M. STX opened the Gerard Butler caper Den of Thieves to $15.2M two Januarys ago, which finaled at just under $45M (which the distrib has always said was a success). No question, Sony’s Bad Boys for Life will dominate its second frame with around $28M, -55%. Of course, the threequel was the big guy at the B.O. yesterday with $3.5M, -4% from Wednesday, ending its week with an estimated $86.6M.
Last night, The Gentlemen, which is a throwback to Ritchie’s gritty Brit shoot ’em ups, made $725K at 1,885 theaters, in line with other guy action pics like Warner Bros.’ Russell Crowe-Ryan Gosling ’70s pic Nice Guys which posted $700K on its preview night and opened to $11.2M. Gentlemen is booked at 2,165 sites.
Universal has the PG-13 DreamWorks horror pic The Turning in the mix, which is also hoping to do around $10M at 2,571 theaters. Pic posted $425K at 2,200 locations last night from showtimes that began at 7PM.
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