Will Smith sparks ‘frenzy’ after secretly attending Bad Boys: Ride or Die screening

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Louise Thomas

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Will Smith sparked mahem in a US chain cinema after he was spotted secretly attending a public screening of his new film, Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

The actor, 55, appears alongside Martin Lawrence in the action blockbuster, which is the third sequel to 1995’s buddy cop hit Bad Boys.

In a video that has gone viral on TikTok, Smith can be seen exiting an auditorium in Cinemark Baldwin Hills Crenshaw, a Los Angeles cinema, following a showing of the film.

Fans quickly recognise the actor, and begin swarming around him and taking photos in what Deadline has described as a “frenzy”.

“Hey, I’m glad y’all enjoyed that. That was a good movie,” Smith can be heard telling the other cinemagoers.

Alongside the video, the TikTok user in attendance wrote: “Surprise, when you walk out of Bad Boys movie and Will Smith walks out with you after having watched the movie with you!! Only at CINEMARK!”

Smith also shared footage from the day on his own Instagram page, describing it as a “ritual” of his to attend public showings of his movies.

“I snuck into @badboys in Baldwin Hills last night,” he wrote in an Instagram reel on Saturday (8 June). “It was SPECTABULOUS! Where should I go next?

“We’re in Baldwin Hills, we’re about to go into the theater. It’s a ritual I have. I do it when I have a movie come out – on Friday, Saturday, there’s usually a matinee on Sunday – I go into theaters.”

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Bad Boys: Ride or Die has been widely described as a comeback film for Smith, arriving just over two years after he sensationally slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards.

Since the incident, which landed Smith with a 10-year ban from attending any Academy events, Smith has largely stayed out of the public eye, and his only film release until now was 2022’s Emancipation, a slavery drama filmed before the Oscars incident.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die enjoyed an unexpectedly strong opening weekend at the box office, grossing over $104m globally. The figure puts it on track to rank as one of the biggest films of the year, and represents the second-highest opening for the franchise, after 2020’s Bad Boys for Life.

Smith is also currently set to star in a 2025 sequel to The Karate Kid, and will also feature in a forthcoming sequel to his hit 2007 post-apocalyptic drama I Am Legend.