The start of May brings with it the start of the Summer movie season and plenty of blockbusters to try and get audiences into theaters. Kicking things off in 2024 is the Ryan Gosling-led The Fall Guy which took number one at the weekend box office on its opening, though there is already some concern about the kind of legs the action-comedy will have.
Despite initial projections placing it between $30-35 million at the domestic box office, The Fall Guy fell just short of hitting this mark with an opening weekend haul of $28.5 million to kick off its theatrical run according to Variety. International box office returns fared a little better with an estimated $36 million, bringing the worldwide opening to around $65 million.
The slightly lower opening was joined by split opinions about the legs the film could have, especially with the other major releases scheduled for May such as Furiosa and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Some analysts believe The Fall Guy could have legs thanks to the international market and generally strong word of mouth. Consultant David Gross told Variety that action-comedies tend to fare well overseas and could be enough to carry it, especially with the film's strong cast. Additionally, The Fall Guy has received largely positive reviews since its SXSW 2024 screening in March and strong word of mouth could keep people heading to theaters.
Others suggested the film will struggle, regardless, due to the estimated $130-150 million budget they felt was too high for a film like The Fall Guy. It would only be compounded by a lack of audience awareness for the original 1980s TV series the film is loosely based on.
Rounding Out the Top Five
Second place at the domestic box office went to Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, which was back in theaters to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its original release. The film took home $8.1 million as fans headed to theaters to celebrate May 4th, also known as Star Wars Day, in fitting fashion.
Challengers held on to take the number three spot for its second weekend in theaters with an additional $7.65 million, bringing its worldwide total after two weeks to around $52 million. Against a reported budget of $55 million, the Zendaya-led film looks poised to break-even, at minimum, for Amazon MGM Studios.
Another new release, Tarot, took fourth place on the weekend with $6.5 million domestic opening, with an additional $3.7 million internationally. The opening may look low at first glance, but the worldwide opening was enough to push the film past its projected $8 million budget.
Rounding out the top five was Godzilla x Kong, which continues to hold on after over a month in theaters. The MonsterVerse film took in another $4.5 million domestically, bringing the worldwide lifetime haul to over $546 million since its March 29 release.
The Fall Guy is in theaters.
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