No Ken do Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop?
The Guardian|May 11, 2024
On paper, it couldn't fail.
Catherine Shoard
No Ken do Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop?

The Fall Guy was a shoo-in as this summer's first - and possibly biggest-box office smash. It had it all. Action, comedy, romance. Record-breaking stunts. Two of the hottest stars around. Great reviews. And a dog.

Yet fail, or at least stumble, The Fall Guy did. David Leitch's blockbuster was supposed to make $40m (£32m) at the US box office on its opening weekend; instead, it landed just shy of $28m. It picked up $30m across 68 other territories.

Revised estimates now put its likely final gross at $80m domestically and $150m overseas: a borderline break-even, once you factor in the $130m budget plus a lavish marketing spend.

It's a bleak picture compared with last summer, when Gosling and Blunt were helping steer the Barbenheimer juggernaut to cinema-saving glory. Barbie is now on $1.5bn, Oppenheimer $954m.

At the Oscars, the pair did a double act as presenters, nodding to Barbenheimer and plugging their new film's big message: stunt performers should be celebrated as much as stars. They followed this up three weeks ago on Saturday Night Live, further bantering about the legacy of Barbenheimer and how hard Gosling's Ken persona was to shake off.

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