‘The Fall Guy’ On Track For $40 Million Opening—Still Well Behind $130 Million Budget
By
Brian Bushard
Forbes US Staff
May 03, 2024
“The Fall Guy” is reportedly expected to gross between $35 million and $40 million through Sunday. Image by Jon Kopaloff / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
Universal Pictures’ stuntman action romance “The Fall Guy” grossed over $3 million in Thursday previews, Variety and Deadline reported on Friday, putting the Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action rom-com on pace for a $40 million U.S. opening weekend, though it has a long way to go to catch its $130 million budget.
Key facts
“The Fall Guy,” directed by David Leitch and based on the Lee Majors 1980s stuntman TV show by the same name, pulled in $3.15 million in Thursday previews, including Wednesday advance screenings, and is reportedly expected to gross between $35 million and $40 million through Sunday.
The action film marks Gosling’s follow-up from last year’s mega-hit “Barbie,” which has grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, including over $636.2 million domestically since its debut in July, according to data from Box Office Mojo—and Universal is reportedly banking on the so-called Gosling factor to draw an audience.
The film carries a $130 million budget, Variety reported, just shy of the $145 million it reportedly cost to make “Barbie.”
If the $40 million figure holds up, “The Fall Guy” would beat out a group of recent Universal box office flops, including October’s “The Exorcist: Believer,” which made nearly $26.5 million in its opening weekend, January’s “Night Swim” ($11.8 million) and February’s “Argyle” ($17.4 million).
The film would still fall flat against last month’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($58 million) and last summer’s “Oppenheimer,” which grossed $82.4 million in its opening weekend on the coattails of the “Barbenheimer” wave.
Big number
Over $280.4 million. That’s how much Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two” has grossed in the U.S. since its release in March. “Kung Fu Panda 4” has so far come in right behind the highly anticipated sequel to the 2021 Timothee Chalamet blockbuster, grossing $185.7 domestically since March 8.
Chief critics
“The Fall Guy” has been well received by audiences and critics alike, earning 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 73/100 score from critics on MetaCritic and a 7.7 user rating on the site. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praised the action comedy as a “goofy summer crowd-pleaser,” though he was more critical of the action it packed, calling the majority of the movie a “long and essentially plotless extravaganza of crashes, bangs, jumps, punches and PAEs (Pointless Action Explosions).” Manohla Dargis of the New York Times agreed in her review, regarding the film as “playful nonsense” and a “vehicle for Gosling and a lot of stunt performers to strut their cool stuff.”
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Movies Hollywood Entertainment Box Office
By
Brian Bushard
Forbes US Staff
I am a Boston-based reporter, foodie and cyclist, with five-plus years of experience in professional news organizations. Before joining Forbes, I covered the environment, town and government, housing, and the arts for a small-town newspaper on Nantucket, called The Inquirer and Mirror. Previously, I reported for NPR, WBUR, WCAI and Nantucket Today. I am a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a degree in political science