No need to go around it too much: The Fall Guy debuted at the top of the American box office in the first weekend of May, but it did so with 28.5 million dollars, a disappointing figure and decidedly below the (already not exactly stellar) expectations of analysts, who were aiming for 35 million dollars.
The first weekend of May, for the past 15 years, was entrusted to a comic book, generally from Marvel Studios, and gave the definitive start to the summer season in view of the rich long weekend of Memorial Day at the end of May. It was supposed to come out this year Deadpool & Wolverine, but due to the strikes (and the difficult situation at Marvel Studios and Disney as a whole) it was postponed to July. With such an attractive slot available, Universal decided to place us The Fall Guya film that had to have all the cards on the table to open the season in style: two very recognizable stars who participated in a very long promotional campaign, lots of action but also romance and comedy, extremely positive reviews.
What went wrong, then? It’s not easy to say, but we can highlight everything that could have contributed to complicating the launch of the film, starting from the fact that despite being based on an old TV series, it is considered an original film, with all the difficulties involved (including a “big IP” budget, around 130 million dollars). It’s a mix between romantic comedy and action film, therefore with a very broad appeal but perhaps not so easy to promote. Furthermore, the postponement to May meant that the promotional time was extended after the presentation at the SXSW Festival.
There is no simple answer to what happened: it is also the context that American cinema is going through that is changing, this 2024 is highlighting all the difficulties of a sector that is facing the strong discontinuity due to the workers’ strikes. last year, which is undoubtedly also having an impact on the general public.
Returning to the data of The Fall Guy, things seem to have gone better abroad: worldwide the film has raised 65 million dollars so far. The A- CinemaScore should ensure good word of mouth, but with the release of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes many PLF theaters may give up showing the film with Gosling and Blunt. We’ll see how it goes over the week.
In all this, they hit 8 million dollars Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, returned to theaters for the 25th anniversary of the film. The film placed second in the USA and raised around 15 million dollars worldwide.
He thus drops to third place Challengers, which however fared well, grossing another 7.6 million dollars (-49%) and rising to a total of 29.5 million dollars in the USA. Worldwide it has raised 52 million dollars so far.
He debuts in fourth place The Prophecy of Evil (Tarot)with $6.5 million, a truly disappointing figure for Sony’s horror (which was not received positively by critics or audiences, with a CinemaScore C-).
The top five closes Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire, with another $4.5 million and $188 million overall. Worldwide it reached $546 million.
The rest of the ranking offers films in full length, we highlight sixth place Civil War which with another 3.5 million dollars reaches a total of 62 million (95 worldwide).
Meanwhile, we would like to point out that outside the USA, Garfield: A Tasty Mission debuted in first place in 18 territories, raising 22 million dollars (of which 8.2 million in Mexico alone!). Let’s get ready because the launch of this animated film at the end of May in the USA could be decidedly positive.
USA COLLECTIONS 3-5 MAY 2024
- The Fall Guy – $28,500,000 weekend, $28,500,000 total
- Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace – $8,080,000 weekend, $482,624,677 total
- Challengers – $7,642,617 weekend, $29,462,046 total
- Tarot – $6,500,000 weekend, $6,500,000 total
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – $4,500,000 weekend, $188,067,000 total
- Civil War – $3,550,396 weekend, $62,006,311 total
- Unsung Hero – $3,000,000 weekend, $13,143,890 total
- Kung Fu Panda 4 – $2,400,000 weekend, $188,346,000 total
- Abigail – $2,300,000 weekend, $22,791,000 total
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – $1,800,000 weekend, $109,903,000 total
Source: BOM
