Why The Bad Guys 2 Box Office Numbers Could Still Overperform

The most recent predictions for The Bad Guys 2 box office numbers have it tracking lower than projected. That doesn’t bode well for the Dreamworks animated sequel as it heads toward its debut on Friday, August 1. But there are several reasons why the heist comedy may still hold strong, especially over the long term, despite some lower predictions for the film during its opening weekend.

What are the latest The Bad Guys 2 box office predictions?

The latest box office predictions for The Bad Guys 2 are that it will earn $21 million, in the range of $19 million to $25 million, in domestic theaters over its opening weekend.

These figures come from a July 30 analysis from Box Office Theory, which has been tracking the movie’s pre-sales since late June. The site previously noted that the first Bad Guys film that released in Spring 2022 was a surprise hit, only earning $23.95 million in its domestic opener but eventually getting $97.5 million overall. However, the $19-25 million number is a significant reduction from its original $26-35 million projection. The report sadly states that its “late-stage tracking and pre-sales haven’t quite lived up to earlier projections.”

However, the site still believes that The Bad Guys 2 could still “over-perform” because it remains one of the few family-friendly animated films in theaters throughout August. The movie will continue to compete against the likes of Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and The Naked Gun during its run, but it’s expected that it will court a younger audience compared to those three. At the moment, it’s predicted that the sequel will place second at the box office this weekend, under Fantastic Four 2025 but above Superman 2025.

It should also be mentioned that The Bad Guys (2022) was a sleeper hit, earning $250 million worldwide on just a $80 million budget. Much of its success was earned at the international box office where it earned $152 million, which is about 61% of its total sales.

Directed by Pierre Perifel and starring voicework from Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, and more, The Bad Guys 2 follows Wolf and the gang as they are roped back into the criminal world after trying to play at being “The Good Guys.”