Box Office: ‘The Fall Guy’ Kicks Off Summer Movie Season With Disappointing $28 Million Debut

After weeks of Ryan Gosling doing parkour, singing along to breakup anthems, and making not-so-subtle Ken references, The Fall Guy has arrived in theaters… with a lackluster debut.

The film, backed by Universal and directed by David Leitch, fell just short of expectations with $28.5 million from 4,002 North American venues in its debut. Heading into the weekend, “The Fall Guy” was projected to earn at least $30 million to $40 million. The trouble is that the movie cost $140 million to produce, so it needs strong word of mouth and interest at the international box office to recoup its budget during its theatrical run. “The Fall Guy” opened to $25.4 million overseas, bringing its global total to $65.4 million.

“This is a fair opening for a big action-comedy,” says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Action comedies are solid performers overseas, and with this cast, foreign business should be good. At [its] cost, ‘The Fall Guy’ is going to need a long run.”

There’s hope that “The Fall Guy” can stick around over the coming weeks… and that’s because Leitch’s prior film, 2022’s Brad Pitt-led assassin thriller “Bullet Train,” overcame similar box office odds. The $90 million-budgeted movie started slow with $30 million in August and legged out to $130 million domestically and $239 million globally.

Also, audiences and critics are digging the film, which landed an “A-” CinemaScore and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. “The Fall Guy” sees Gosling as a former stuntman who tries to track down a missing movie star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) so he can salvage a big studio movie, which is being directed by his ex-girlfriend (Blunt).

“We are incredibly proud of this film,” says Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr. “It’s an exciting, charming film that I have no doubt will have a robust run.”

Notably, this is the first time in over a decade that Marvel isn’t igniting the summer season so, naturally, comparisons are tough to the same weekend in 2023 when “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? started things off with $118 million. This marks the softest start to blockbuster season in roughly 15 years. Now, the domestic box office is down more than 20% from 2023 and 40% from 2019, and exhibitors are desperate for upcoming releases like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Inside Out 2” to fill seats during the next four months. “Deadpool & Wolverine” was, at one point, supposed to kick off popcorn season on May 3, but it was delayed because of last year’s actors and writers strikes.

“For over a decade and a half, a Marvel movie provided the spark to ignite the summer movie season,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “This year, without such a blockbuster title, apples-to-apples comparisons to the same weekend a year ago are rendered moot.”

Although “The Fall Guy” easily topped box office charts, it wasn’t the sole newcomer. Sony and Screen Gem’s low-budget horror film “Tarot” opened in fourth place with $6.5 million from 3,104 locations. It also opened overseas with $3.7 million, boosting its global tally to $10.2 million.

via: Variety

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