Kevin Hart and Ice Cube created a massive hit back in 2014, with director Tim Story’s Ride Along setting January box office records when it was released. Now the dynamic duo is set to return, and a new trailer has arrived for Ride Along 2 to tell us what the new adventure will be all about.
Universal Pictures has released this new trailer via their official YouTube account, and as you can see, the film sports a rather impressive supporting cast backing up Ice Cube and Kevin Hart – who will be reprising their roles as James Payton, and Ben Barber respectively. Also joining in the fun this time around are Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, Bruce McGill, Tika Sumpter, and Sherri Shepherd.
After establishing Ice Cube and Kevin Hart as the Alpha dog and his "mate" in the initial Ride Along, the upcoming sequel – also directed by Tim Story (Barbershop) – does what so many sequels before it have tried to do: Take the show on the road. In an effort to get closer to a powerful drug supplier (Benjamin Bratt), Atlanta police partners James (Cube) and Ben (Hart) must venture down to Miami and pose under various undercover guises to bring the case to closure. Of course, the incompetent Ben slows James down, and even the help of local colleagues like Maya Cruz (Munn) or A.J. (Jeong) can’t help the mismatched duo.
Released in January 2014, the first Ride Along movie surprised some analysts by bursting out of the gate and showing real staying power during a theatrical frame that’s normally dead at the box office. Ice Cube and Kevin Hart obviously had a lot of chemistry together, and pairing them in a buddy comedy made all kinds of sense. But the film banked an impressive $154M in box office receipts, launching a franchise that will trigger at least one movie and possibly more, if Ride Along 2 can generate similar numbers.
They are wisely staying in the same release window, claiming a January weekend and hoping that lighting – very funny and action-packed lightning – will strike in the same spot twice. Since the first Ride Along came out, though, Hart has become a bigger star, and Cube will be coming off of the assumed success of the N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton. All of these factors could lead to increased awareness – and more money – for Ride Along 2. Ride Along 2 will be in theaters on January 15, 2016.
