It was the 80s and 90s again at the weekend box office. Universal The guy who falls just in timeRyan Gosling’s film, based on the 1980s TV series, kicked off the summer movie season at No. 1 with $28.5 million, while Disney’s re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace surprised by coming in at No. 2 with $8.1 million.
Despite The Fall Guys Number 1, its gross was lower than initial expectations of $30 million to $35 million, and overall the box office is down dramatically from the same frame a year ago, when Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 bowed to $118.4 million domestically. The weekend is down 53% from last year and more than 66% from 2022, when Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opened to $187.4 million domestically.
The guy who falls just in time hails from stuntman-turned-director David Leitch and was billed as a love letter to the stunt community. Gosling, at the height of his star power thanks to his Oscar-nominated role as Ken in barbie, plays a down-and-out stuntman who comes out of retirement to try to find a missing star and save a film (which happens to be directed by his ex, played by Emily Blunt). Universal now hopes that ScapegoatThe audience’s A-CinemaScore will help them catch up in the coming weeks through word of mouth. It also has rave reviews from South by Southwest.
phantom menaceThe weekend is a nice turn of events for the film. This kicked off George Lucas Star The Wars prequel trilogy in 1999, and for years after, was a punchline for audiences and Star Wars fans, but has grown in appreciation in the decades since, with younger fans who grew up with the film becoming adults and star Ewan McGregor reprising his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi for his own Disney+ series in 2022, thus helping to further reinforce the nostalgia of the film. It returned to theaters as part of the 25th birthday, as well as for May 4ththe unofficial Star Wars party.
The Phantom Menace preempted sexy tennis drama from Amazon MGM Studios Challengers for No. 2. Luca Guadagnino’s feature had a solid hold over the second weekend, losing just 49 percent for a weekend gross of $7.6 million and a cume of 29.4 millions of dollars. Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist star.
Sony and Screen Gem’s Tarot bowed in its first weekend to $6.5 million, a good start considering the feature cost $8 million and had no traditional marketing campaign. Sony embarked on its first digital-only campaign for this feature film, meaning no TV spots or billboards for the feature, featuring seven friends who accidentally release an evil entity trapped in a Cursed Tarot card deck. Neither critics nor audiences embraced this one. It has an 8 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a low C-CinemaScore.
More soon.
