Posted in: Box Office, Movies | Tagged: Challengers, ryan gosling, star wars, The Fall Guy, the phantom menace, Weekend Box Office
The Fall Guy won the first summer Weekend Box Office, but it was with more of a yawn than a howl, and not really the movie’s fault.
Article Summary
- “The Fall Guy” leads with a modest $28.5 million, opening the summer box office.
- Summer starts -55% behind last year with no superhero film to boost numbers.
- Ryan Gosling’s “The Fall Guy” receives an “A-” CinemaScore amid tepid sales.
- Upcoming release “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” expected to revive sales.
The Fall Guy kicked off summer with a yawn at the box office this weekend. Overall, we are off -55% from last year, though last year’s summer movie kick-off was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so it’s not really fair. A massive superhero film did not kick off the summer for the first time in 17 years, and theaters noticed. Once a guaranteed blockbuster weekend to start the big box office season, they had to hope Ryan Gosling was enough this year. The film scored $28.5 million, good enough for first place but under tracking from the last couple of weeks. The real story of this one will be how it plays through the end of May and whether Universal can leg this one out to the $100-150 million range domestically.
The Fall Guy Can’t Do It Alone
The Fall Guy is falling victim to the strikes of last year. All spring, there haven’t been enough films opening in theaters to drive people in the doors, and leading up to its release, it shouldered a lot of responsibility that it was not made to handle. That number is near the top of Gosling’s previous openings and is in line with this type of action comedy in recent years. But that would never be enough because of the date and lack of a huge blockbuster. It is sad, really, as people like it; it has an “A-” CinemaScore, and critics seem to agree.
In second place was the Star Wars: Episode 1- The Phantom Menace re-release. No shocker there, as May the 4th was on Saturday, and that drove fans to theaters to the tune of $8.1 million, right in line with previous Star Wars re-releases. Third place goes to Challengers, with a pretty good hold of -49% and $7.6 million. After two weeks, it is at $29 million and on pace with Amazon’s release of Air around the same time last year. Fourth place goes to yet another failed horror film on the docket for 2024, as Tarot was unable to catch on with only $6.5 million. Sure, these horror budgets are low, so they aren’t entirely losers, but after almost five months of releases, you would think at least one of them would have broken out. Rounding out the top five was Godzilla Vs Kong- The New Empire with $4.5 million. It is now at $188 domestically and still has a good shot at legging out to $200 million.
The weekend box office top five for May 3rd:
- The Fall Guy- $28.5 million
- Star Wars: Episode 1- The Phantom Menace $8.1 million
- Challengers- $7.6 million
- Tarot- $6.5 million
- Godzilla x Kong- The New Empire- $4.5 million
Next week, a real summer blockbuster opens, as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens wide. Awareness is high for this one, and goodwill from the last trilogy should help propel this one to the higher end of tracking. I will go to $53 million.
And if you haven’t already, check out our Summer Movie preview for my thoughts on what the top ten grossing films of the summer will be, as well as some fearless predictions, right here.
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