‘The Fall Guy’ Can’t Rev Up Box Office With $28.5 Million Opening
Universal/87North’s “The Fall Guy” is getting the summer box office off to a slow start, earning a domestic opening of just $28.5 million from 4,002 theaters.
That’s a step below pre-release projections of $30 million, which would have put it on par with director David Leitch’s last film, “Bullet Train,” which grossed $239 million worldwide in 2022, and the Paramount action comedy “The Lost City,” which grossed $192.9 million. Problem is, “The Fall Guy” carries a far higher budget than either of those films as it is reported to have cost at least $125 million to produce before marketing expenses.
The one big hope? “The Fall Guy” has been well received, earning an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 83% critics and 87% audience. That sort of word-of-mouth could help the film leg out past $100 million domestic, just like “Bullet Train” and “The Lost City” did two years ago.
Combine that with continued turnout from international markets — the film has made $36.9 million from 39 markets so far for a $65.4 million global launch — and “The Fall Guy” still has a chance to leg out past the break-even point. But it’s going to have to do that against Disney/20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which is currently projected to open in the $50 million range next weekend.
In second on the charts is Disney’s 25th anniversary re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” which earned $8.2 million from 2,700 theaters domestically and $6.4 million overseas. That result puts the 1999 prequel film past $480 million domestic and $1.03 billion worldwide in lifetime grosses.
Amazon MGM’s “Challengers” is in third with a second weekend total of $7.6 million. That’s a decent hold for the Zendaya tennis drama, dropping 49% its $15 million opening to give it a total of $29.4 million domestic. But it still hasn’t made back its reported $55 million budget.
In fourth is the other wide release of this weekend, Sony/Screen Gems’ horror film “Tarot,” with a $6.5 million opening from 3,104 theaters. The film has been panned with a C- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 12% critics and 59% audience. But with a reported budget of just $8 million, it will easily turn a modest theatrical profit.
More to come…
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