Universal/87North’s “The Fall Guy” has a slow start at the summer box office, making just $28.5 million from 4,002 theaters in the U.S.
This is less than the expected $30 million, which would have matched director David Leitch’s last film, “Bullet Train,” and the Paramount action comedy “The Lost City,” both of which earned much more. The issue is that “The Fall Guy” had a higher budget, reportedly at least $125 million before marketing costs.
The bright spot is that “The Fall Guy” received positive feedback, earning an A- on CinemaScore and 83% from critics and 87% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. This positive word-of-mouth could help the film reach over $100 million domestic, like “Bullet Train” and “The Lost City” did.
With added earnings from international markets — $36.9 million from 39 markets for a $65.4 million global launch — “The Fall Guy” still has a chance to break even. However, it's up against Disney/20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” projected to open around $50 million next weekend.
Disney’s 25th anniversary re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” comes in second, earning $8.2 million domestically and $6.4 million overseas. This brings the 1999 prequel film to over $480 million domestic and $1.03 billion worldwide in total grosses.
Amazon MGM’s “Challengers” holds third place with a total of $7.6 million in its second weekend, dropping 49% from its $15 million opening to a total of $29.4 million domestic. However, it has not yet covered its reported $55 million budget.
The wide release of the weekend, Sony/Screen Gems’ horror film “Tarot,” opens in fourth place with $6.5 million from 3,104 theaters. The film received poor ratings, with a C- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 12% from critics and 59% from the audience. Despite this, with a reported budget of just $8 million, it will easily make a modest profit.
More details to come…
