After a tepid start to the summer, June promises to heat things up with two major studio releases headed to theaters over the month’s first two frames. Sony’s franchise entry Bad Boys: Ride or Die and Disney/Pixar’s animated sequel Inside Out 2 are expected to lead the month, but will either provide the domestic box office with its first $100M opener of the year?
Here are the biggest movies coming to theaters in June:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die | Sony
June 7 (PLF)
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in the franchise following 1995’s Bad Boys ($65.8M domestic/$141.4M global), Bad Boys II ($138.6M domestic/$273.3M global), and the franchise’s highest-grossing entry to date, 2020’s Bad Boys for Life ($206.3M domestic/$426.5M global). The third entry in the series was the only 2020 release from a major studio not to have its theatrical run disrupted by the pandemic; ultimately, it was the highest-grossing film of the year by a hefty margin.
In Bad Boys Ride or Die, the Miami duo find themselves on the run after their former captain (played by Joe Pantoliano) is implicated in illegal activity. Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return, along with screenwriter Chris Bremner. Co-star Smith hasn’t had a major theatrical release since the infamous slap at the 2022 Academy Awards, which could have affected his draw at the box office. Given that Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Day One and Warner Bros.’ Horizon: An American Saga don’t arrive until June 28th, the sequel has the potential for strong holdovers throughout the month.
The Watchers | Warner Bros.
June 7
From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, written and directed by daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan in her feature directing debut and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. When Mina gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland, she finds herself trapped alongside three strangers who are watched by mysterious creatures each night.
2023 scored major breakaway horror hits with January’s M3GAN ($30.4M opening/$95.1M cume) and day-and-date title Five Nights at Freddy’s ($80M opening/$137.2M cume) in October, but the genre has failed to deliver any crossover hits so far in 2024. Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 holds the record for the highest opening weekend of the year so far in the genre with $11.8M. The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere. New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. will present the film in theaters internationally beginning June 5th, prior to the North American release on June 7th.
Inside Out 2 | Walt Disney Pictures
June 14 (PLF)
Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 introduces a new set of emotions into teenager Riley’s world, including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). When headquarters undergoes a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust aren’t sure how to feel.
The Pixar title will be the first major release of the year to hit theaters under the Disney banner and arrives on the same weekend that Pixar’s 2022 Lightyear and 2023 Elemental failed to click. Disney has high hopes for the title, which was a centerpiece of their CinemaCon 2024 presentation, where the first 35 minutes of the film were well received by exhibitors.
The voice cast includes Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Tony Hale as Fear, and Liza Lapira as Disgust. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade since the 2015 film opened to $90.4M and continued to a staggering cume of $356.9M domestic and $858.8M globally. With children who caught the original movie in theaters now grown up an boasting their own spending power, the film could draw in Gen Z audiences looking to indulge in some nostalgia.
The Bikeriders | Focus Features
June 21
From writer-director Jeff Nichols (Loving $7.7M domestic/$12.9M global, Midnight Special $3.7M domestic/$6.7M global, Mud $21.5M domestic/$32.6M global), The Bikeriders—starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy—follows the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club. The film originally premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival with a planned theatrical roll-out by Disney’s 20th Century Studios in December 2023. The SAG-AFTRA actor’s strike threw a wrench into those plans, preventing promotional appearances for a film anchored by its ensemble cast. The Bikeriders vacated its 2023 awards season release due to the strike, with producers eventually settling on a new distributor, Focus Features, to handle a theatrical launch in 2024. Specialty exhibitors in our annual State of the Art-House panel highlighted the title as one of the year’s most promising general audience crossovers. Most Focus releases only receive 17 days of theatrical exclusivity before being made available on Premium Video on Demand (PVOD), affecting holdover potential down the line. Ultimately, The Bikeriders faces a crowded summer window and the challenge of performing without PLF screens.
Horizon: An American Saga | Warner Bros.
June 28
Kevin Costner’s passion project Horizon: An American Saga is the first in a planned four-part epic Western series. The first two chapters have been completed, while the remaining films will live or die based on the success of the first two. Co-written, produced, directed by, and starring Costner, the films mark Coster’s return to directing after a break of over two decades. (His last film was 2003’s Open Range, $58.3M domestic/$68.2M global).
The Warner Bros. series explores the lure of the Old West, delving into how it was won and lost through blood, sweat, and tears. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious adventure will take audiences on a journey across a country at war with itself. Bookending the summer, the second chapter arrives two months later on August 16th. The film’s large ensemble cast includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower.
A Quiet Place: Day One | Paramount Pictures
June 28 (PLF)
Paramount Pictures’ A Quiet Place: Day One invites audiences to experience the day the world went quiet. Director Michael Sarnoski (Pig $3.1M domestic/$3.8M global) wrote the screenplay from a story co-developed with John Krasinski. Based on characters created by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck, the prequel film marks the first entry in the horror/sci-fi franchise without Krasinski in the director’s chair, though he returns as a producer. 2018’s A Quiet Place opened to $50.2M and spawned a new franchise with $188M domestic and $340.9M globally. The sequel, A Quiet Place: Part II, underwent significant pandemic postponements from its original March 2020 release date and eventually opened to $47.5M in May of 2021, seeing overall diminished returns at $160M domestic and $297.3M globally. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou.
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