Note: This story has been updated to include international box office information for the weekend’s top five films.
The box office take for The Fall Guy — Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s big-budget action comedy — fell flat in its opening weekend to kick off the summer movie season.
According to Variety, The Fall Guy — which is based on Lee Majors’ 1980s action series of the same name about the adventures of a movie stuntman — was projected to bring in $30 million to $40 million in its opening weekend in 4,002 theaters domestically, but underperformed with an estimated $28.5 million tally.
Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile pegged The Fall Guy to open in the $30 million to $35 million range.
Even if The Fall Guy had met or exceeded that threshold, its opening weekend gross pales in comparison to last year’s summer movie season opener Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, which earned $118.4 million domestically from May 5-7, 2023, per box office tracker The Numbers.
The Numbers reported that The Fall Guy’s production budget was $125 million, but Variety reported that the cost was $140 million. That, of course, doesn’t include the film’s prints and advertising budget — which can add considerably more to the project’s final cost.
No matter how expensive the production and P&A spend ends up being, The Fall Guy has a lot of ground to make up in the coming weeks as the competition stiffens. The Planet of the Apes sequel Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens wide in theaters on May 10, while Ryan Reynolds’ family movie fantasy IF and the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black both open on May 17.
To finish out the month, the Mad Max Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — starring Anya Taylor Joy as the young version of Fury Road’s Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) opens May 24.
As for the long-term prospects for The Fall Guy, a representative for the Franchise Entertainment Research consulting firm told Variety that the film’s international business should help boost the film’s bottom line.
“This is a fair opening for a big action comedy,” David A. Gross told Variety. “Action comedies are solid performers overseas, and with this cast, foreign business should be good.”
Still, considering the film’s budget, Gross added, “The Fall Guy is going to need a long run.”
Internationally, The Fall Guy made $36.9 million in ticket sales, which combined with its $28.5 million domestic tally added up to a worldwide box office total to $65.4 million over the weekend.
‘Tarot’ Exceeds Projection In Its Box Office Debut
Also new in theaters this weekend is the horror thriller Tarot, which was projected by Deadline to earn $5 million to $6 million in 3,104 theaters but ended up slightly overperforming with a $6.5 million opening weekend for a No. 4 debut.
That may not seem like a lot, but considering the film had an $8 million production budget, it surely will become profitable long before The Fall Guy does. Combined with $3.7 million in ticket sales overseas, Tarot ended the weekend with $10.2 million at the worldwide box office.
According to Deadline, the other films in the top five consisted of two box office holdovers and one re-release. Last weekend’s No. 1 film, Zendaya’s provocative tennis romance Challengers, brought in an estimated $8.7 million in 3,477 theaters for the No. 2 spot to bring its domestic tally to $30.5 million. Combined with $22.8 million in international ticket sales, Challengers has earned $52.2 million worldwide to date.
Timed with the unofficial Star Wars holiday — May the 4th Be With You — on Saturday, Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace was re-released in theaters to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary.
The film took in an estimated $7.2 million at the domestic box office for a No. 3 finish, bringing its lifetime North American total to $481.7 million. Adding in $552.5 million in international ticket sales over the past 20 years, The Phantom Menace’s lifetime worldwide gross stands at $1.035 million.
Coming in behind Tarot for the No. 5 slot was Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, which sold an estimated $4.2 million in ticket sales to bring its domestic tally to $188 million in its sixth week of release. Combined with $358.8 million in international ticket sales, the latest MonsterVerse chapter’s worldwide tally stands at $546.8 million.
The final numbers for the weekend box office will be released Monday.
