I believe the top billings are decided by what each agent can negotiate for their star. The first billing and the last billing tend to go first and second.

Who knows, perhaps Smith's agent DIDN'T want his client to get top billing on a summer action movie because they're trying to land him more roles in more "serious" movies like Ali.

There's no question that Smith is a bigger star then Lawrence. But i'm sure neither care about billing so it doesn't really matter

Just watched this one again tonight for the first time in a few years. It was pretty obvious to me that Martin Lawrence had more lines and more screen time in the first.

true, Martin's name appears first in BB1, but in Bad Boys 2, their names are on screen at the same time... so they BOTH get top billing.

mATT