The Fall Guy seemed to have it all.
megawatt star. A life-threatening stunt. Great review. An original story – what movie fans tired of sequels want.
Universal backed “The Fall Guy” with a six-month marketing campaign, releasing a trailer that racked up 400 million views and running carpet-bombing ads during telecasts of sporting events, including the Super Bowl. did.
Ticket sales in North America from Friday to Sunday were just $28.5 million, the worst start to Hollywood's most important summer season since 1995. The Fall Guy cost Universal at least $200 million to produce and market, and was released in 2002. In theaters in the United States and Canada. It raised an additional $37 million overseas.
This is why studios don't take risks with new stories. “It's a very tough business and it's very difficult to break through with new ideas,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office sales. “Do you want to explain to your shareholders why you spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a novel idea that failed?”
The action comedy “Fall Guys” shares its name and basic DNA with the television drama that aired on ABC from 1981 to 1986. However, the story of the movie is completely new. Scott Mendelsohn, a box office columnist who publishes his own subscription newsletter, said Hollywood isn't making enough original movies for movie fans and “even if they do, they have to stay home or go elsewhere.” He said he was dissatisfied.
Ryan Gosling, fresh off Barbie and receiving acclaim for his singing performance at the Academy Awards, plays a down-on-his-luck stuntman who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery while trying to rekindle a romantic relationship. Emily Blunt plays a film director. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham and Jason Momoa round out the cast of The Fall Guy.
It was the first time in 19 years that Hollywood's summer season (a four-month period that typically accounts for 40% of annual ticket sales) did not begin with a superhero or sequel. Last year, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 started the summer with $118 million in opening weekend ticket sales and went on to gross $846 million worldwide. .
To find a season opener with lower ticket sales than “The Fall Guy,'' consider 1995, when “French Kiss,'' a mid-budget romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, grossed about $18 million. It is necessary to go back to Today's dollar. (The latest original film to start the summer season was Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, which grossed $31.5 million in 2005, adjusted for inflation.)
When a movie is released and ticket sales are disappointing, studios always say they hope word of mouth will bring in larger audiences in the coming weeks. Universal was no exception on Sunday, saying in a statement that it “looks like this action/thriller and date night movie will continue to play in the coming weeks.”
In the case of The Fall Guy, it may not be just spin. Romantic comedies start slowly and build gradually. “Anyone But You” was made for his $25 million and had a disastrous opening sales of $8 million over Christmas weekend, taking him to $219 million worldwide. In 2022, “The Lost City'', which was made for $68 million, reached his $30.5 million, and in the end he collected $193 million.
