A Great Disturbance in the Force Pays Off Over the Weekend, The Fall Guy Lands Top Spot

May the Fourth Be with You, aka Star Wars Day, turns into a weekend-long celebration for fans of that galaxy far, far away. While Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s The Fall Guy does land the top spot at the box office to kick off the summer movie season, the big surprise is the 25th anniversary screenings of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999). George Lucas’ first installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy outperformed every other movie this weekend except for director David Leitch’s love letter to the stunt profession.

At the end of the day, though, Leitch’s film just didn’t live up to the higher end of its predicted numbers. The long-range forecast was that the Ryan Gosling-led romantic action comedy would land somewhere between $20 million and $40 million, according to Boxoffice Pro. Ultimately, The Fall Guy laid claim to No. 1 with an estimated $28.5 million domestically (per The Numbers), which landed almost perfectly in the middle of the financial numbers expected.

The Fall Guy

4/5

The Fall Guy is an action thriller from Bullet Train and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch. Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who is forced to find a missing movie star, investigate a conspiracy, and repair his relationship with the love of his life. The film was written by Drew Pearce and inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name.

Release Date

May 3, 2024

Runtime

1hr 54min

Studio

87North, Arcana, Entertainment 360

The Fall Guy fared better internationally with $36.9 million, which helped the film amass $65.4 million worldwide. While that’s a sizable number, it’s only a drop in the bucket when compared to The Fall Guy’s $140 million budget. And it’s important to remember, the production budget doesn’t cover the marketing and advertising costs used to promote Gosling and Blunt’s latest big-screen adventure.

The Phantom Menace Dominates All Other Takers

While it’s not the best Star Wars film,The Phantom Menace launched the epic storyline that would eventually culminate with the rise of Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. Over the weekend, fans celebrated May the Fourth Be with You, and they were treated to special 25th anniversary screenings of Episode I. And outside of The Fall Guy, The Phantom Menace dominated the rest of the box office field over the weekend.

The Phantom Menace secured the No. 2 spot with $8.1 million. That brought the Star Wars prequel’s all-time worldwide total to $1.035 billion. Meanwhile, last week’s No. 1 movie, Zendaya’s Challengers, held very well in its second weekend of release, dropping only 49%. Luca Guadagnino’s romantic sports drama lobbed its way into the No. 3 slot with $7.6 million. Newcomer Tarot dealt a victory for the horror genre as Sony’s adaptation of the novel Horrorscope scared up $6.5 million during its debut — landing Tarot at No. 4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire rounded out the Top 5 with $4.5 million.

Related

Challengers’ Director Dishes About Spider-Verse Reference & Peachy Nod to Call Me by Your Name

Luca Guadagnino sets the record straight on both the Spider-Verse mention and the perceived callback to Call Me by Your Name.

A handful of new, limited releases vied for the weekend’s highest per-theater average, which ultimately went to A24’s I Saw the TV Glow. Director Jane Schoenbrun’s horror film opened in four theaters and made an average of $29,085 per cinema. Wildcat played in three cinemas ($19,380 per-theater average) and Evil Does Not Exist opened in three venues for a per-theater average of $15,100.