The summer movie season is off to a rather disappointing start, with Universal’s The Fall Guy falling short of even the most modest projections.
The Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt film was projected to gross between $30 million and $40 million upon its opening, a fairly weak amount for the opening weekend of the summer movie season.
Sunday estimates are in, with The Fall Guy debuting to an even lower $28.5 million, via Deadlineeasily dethroning last weekend’s winning Challengers.
Disney’s remake of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace came in second with just over $8 million.
The film has been a hit with critics, with a solid 83% rating from 253 reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an A- Cinemascore rating and a 90% positive rating in post-screening interviews from PostTrak.
The summer movie season is off to a rather disappointing start, with Universal’s The Fall Guy falling short of even the most modest projections.
Disney’s remake of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace came in second with just over $8 million.
Still, those strong reviews and ratings didn’t lead to a strong debut, well below the opening weekend last May, when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuted with $118.4 million.
The overall weekend box office is estimated at $72.9 million, a sharp 55% drop from the same period in 2023 ($156 million).
The Fall Guy opened in 4,002 theaters, averaging a decent $7,121 per screen for the $130 million-budgeted film.
Despite the slow start for the David Leitch-directed film, Jim Orr, Universal’s distribution chief, believes things are heading well for “The Fall Guy” in the coming weeks.
‘We had a very solid opening. “We expect to have a very long, very strong, very successful run at the domestic box office for literally weeks, if not months,” Orr said in a statement to the AP.
But The Fall Guy’s modest beginning suggests bigger concerns for the film industry.
The Fall Guy seemed to tick all the boxes for a summer blockbuster, with outrageous action sequences, one of the most popular stars in the business, a director with a track record of pleasing audiences, and rave reviews.
But instead, the opening of The Fall Guy, loosely based on the 1980s television series, only emphasized that the movie business will likely struggle to rekindle last year’s fervor. Summer “Barbenheimer”.
The Fall Guy was released in 4,002 theaters, averaging a decent $7,121 per screen for a movie with a $130 million budget.
The Fall Guy seemed to tick all the boxes for a summer blockbuster, with outrageous action sequences, one of the most popular stars in the business, a director with a track record of pleasing audiences, and rave reviews.
But instead, the opening of The Fall Guy, loosely based on the 1980s television series, only emphasized that the film industry will likely struggle to rekindle the fervor of last year’s “Barbenheimer” summer.
Surprisingly, the No. 2 spot at the box office went to Walt Disney Co.’s relaunch of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The Fall Guy stars one of each: Gosling, in his first post-Ken role, and Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt, both of whom have Oscar nominations for those roles.
“This year is going to be a very interesting and non-traditional summer,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Partly due to the effects of last year’s work stoppages, there are fewer major films in theaters. Expectations are that the total summer box office will be closer to $3 billion than the $4 billion it has historically generated.
‘The summer season is just beginning, so let’s give The Fall Guy a chance to build that momentum over time. “It’s a different kind of early summer movie,” Dergarabedian said.
“There are always high expectations for any movie that kicks off the summer movie season, but this is not your typical summer movie season,” he added.
Surprisingly, second place at the box office went to the reissue of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, from Walt Disney Co..
The first episode of George Lucas’ unloved prequels grossed $8.1 million over the weekend, 25 years after “Phantom Menace” grossed $1 billion.
Last week’s top movie, Zendaya’s tennis drama Challengers, fell to third place with $7.6 million in its second week. That was a sold hold for the Amazon MGM release, directed by Luca Guadagnino, which fell 49% from its opening weekend.
Sony Screen Gems’ supernatural horror film Tarot also opened nationwide. It debuted with $6.5 million, a pretty decent start for a low-budget release, but another example of horror that didn’t perform as well this year as it has in recent years.
Estimated ticket sales from Friday to Sunday at theaters in the United States and Canada, according to Comscore. Final national figures will be published on Monday.
1. “The Scapegoat”, $28.5 million.
2. “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” $8.1 million.
3. “Challengers,” $7.6 million.
4. “Tarot”, $6.5 million.
5. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”, $4.5 million.
6. “Civil War”, $3.6 million.
7. “Unsung Hero”, $3 million.
8. “Kung Fu Panda 4,” $2.4 million.
9. “Abigail”, $2.3 million.
10. “Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire,” $1.8 million.