Universal’s The Fall Guy stumbled out of the gates, earning $28.5 million in its opening frame, far below the $35M many anticipated, per Deadline.
That’s about on par with most comedies of this ilk (see Sandra Bullock’s The Lost City), but David Leitch’s action comedy cost anywhere between $130M-$150M to produce and needed to get off to a strong start, particularly considering the upcoming competition.
Still, Fall Guy earned an A CinemaScore and strong reviews, so the hope is that it eventually reaches $100M domestically. Also, that’s Gosling’s third-highest opening behind Barbie ($162M) and Blade Runner 2049 ($32.7M), and Blunt’s ninth-best just behind Edge of Tomorrow ($28.7M).
Worldwide, the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt pic earned $65.4M. Elsewhere, the 25th-anniversary re-release of George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Phantom Menace added a nice chunk of change to its already robust gross, earning $8.1M domestically and $14.5M globally.
That ranks on the higher end of re-releases, just below the $10.5M domestic earned by James Cameron’s Avatar in 2022. Also opening this week was the horror flick Tarot, which only managed $6.5M from 3,104 theaters.