The summer release from Universal, an action-romance “The Fall Guy”, has started its box office journey on the wrong foot. Starring Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stuntman courting a rising director played by Emily Blunt, grossed $10.4 million from 4,002 locations on its opening day, following a promising $3.15 million from Thursday previews. The feature is now projecting a three-day opening of $28 million, slightly below industry projections that had forecast a debut in the low-to-mid 30’s.
It seems that “The Fall Guy” movie is not meeting the expectations set for it to earn around $30 million to $40 million on its opening weekend. Although the movie has a production budget of $130 million, it’s not a big-budget summer tentpole movie, and it has a long way to go to make a substantial amount of money to recoup its costs.
Despite having a mediocre start, the film still has the potential to become profitable if it performs strongly in the upcoming weeks. The reviews of the film have been positive, and early ticket buyers seem to like it too, according to audience survey firm Cinema Score’s “A-” grade. However, for the North American theatrical industry, which is already experiencing a nearly 20% decline in revenue from last year, this isn’t a promising start to what is supposed to be the busiest season for exhibitors.
Reportedly, The Fall Guy is the most expensive project directed by David Leitch, aside from his “Fast & Furious” spin-off. Yet, the film faces a challenge in matching the $30 million domestic opening of his last movie, “Bullet Train,” starring Brad Pitt. It is worth noting that “Bullet Train” cost $40 million less to make, highlighting the potential financial impact of the performance of “The Fall Guy.”
Based on the ’80s TV series of the same name, “The Fall Guy”, starring Lee Majors. In the David Leitch movie version, Gosling plays stuntman Colt Seavers, a stuntman who quits the business after an on-set accident and leaves behind his love interest, Jody Moreno (played by Emily Blunt). When the actor that Colt doubled for (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing, he is called upon to find the star and save the film, which also happens to be the directorial debut of his ex-girlfriend.
Also, Amazon MGM’s “Challengers,” a love-triangle tennis drama starring Zendeya, saw $2.5 million on Friday, down 59% from its opening day. The Zendaya film will likely surpass a $30 million domestic total through Sunday and strongly holds second place on the box office chart. Meanwhile, “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” which Disney has re-released to mark its 25th anniversary, earned $2.4 million on Friday from 2,700 locations. The popular franchise holds on to the third position.
In the box office rankings, the fourth position is currently occupied by the newly released horror film “Tarot” by Sony, shown in 3,104 locations this weekend and earned $2.5 million from Friday and preview screenings. As for the fifth position, it belongs to “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” by Legendary Entertainment, which has been running for six weeks now. The movie, which is distributed by Warner Bros., is expected to earn another $4.2 million this weekend, bringing its total earnings to an impressive $187 million. It is likely to surpass “Kung Fu Panda 4” by Universal and become the second highest-grossing North American release of the year.
Watch the Official trailer The Fall Gay: