When Ride Along was released last year, expectations were pretty low. It was, after all, yet another buddy cop movie, dumped into the no-man’s-land of January (never a good sign). But thanks to an ad campaign carefully targeted at fans of stars Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, it was a big hit—and a profitable one, bringing in $153 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.
With that kind of return on investment—increasingly common in star-driven comedies—it’s no surprise Universal hurried a sequel into production, with a bulked-up supporting cast (including Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Sherri Sheperd, and Tyrese Gibson) and a tropical locale (Cube was apparently taking notes during 22 Jump Street). And now there’s a trailer:
If you liked the jokes in Ride Along, good news: it looks like many of them will be back in Ride Along 2! (Along with “We’ve got company,” which, c’mon.) But hey, it’s a goofy comedy sequel with a handful of likable actors, so let’s just keep expectations reasonable when it hits theaters on January 15.