‘Bad Boys for Life’ shines, ‘Doolittle’ dogs at box office

LOS ANGELES — Two “Bad Boys” were too good for one “Dolittle” at the box office.

“Bad Boys for Life” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence brought in $59 million in the U.S. and Canada to score a No. 1 debut. The action-packed, buddy comedy returned for the franchise’s third installment after a 17-year hiatus with popular demand to outlast “Dolittle,” starring Robert Downey Jr., which opened at second with a mediocre $22.5 million. It had a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Dolittle” barely topped the

World War I film “1917,” which claimed the top spot last week. The war film earned $22.1 million this weekend.

The Oscar-nominated epic wartime film has gained popularity after it won Golden Globes for best director and drama film a couple weeks ago. Saturday night, it won an award for theatrical motion picture at the Producers Guild Awards, which has gone on to win best picture Oscar 21 out of 30 times, including the past two years.

“‘1917’ is really taking a lot of the oxygen and taking on a life of its own since the Oscar nominations and all of these awards,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore said. “If you haven’t seen ‘1917,’ you’re totally out of the loop for awards season.”

Sony Pictures has two other films in the top 10 at the domestic box office including Oscar-contender “Little Women” and “Jumanji: The Next Level,” which crossed $700 million worldwide.

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” topped $1 billion globally after five weeks. The Disney’s film focusing on the final chapter of the Luke Skywalker saga has also earned more than $492 million domestically.