Even with a $127 Million Global Box Office Collection, Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy Could Soon Turn into Every Filmmaker’s Worst Nightmare
After Ryan Gosling’s phenomenal performance in Barbie, one would think that he had the audience swept off their feet for his next project. However, that does not seem to be the case at all as The Fall Guy‘s performance at the box office proves otherwise.
Despite having two of the most acclaimed actors in Hollywood as the lead actors, the movie is falling short of the worldwide collection expected of it. In fact, its current predicament is even making it unlikely for the film to so much as break even.
Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy Struggles to Break Even
When Barbie and Oppenheimer were released last year, it culminated in a worldwide phenomenon known as ‘Barbenheimer’, which not only worked as positive promotion for both movies but also put the spotlight on the cast of both movies.
With the announcement that the best of both worlds, Barbie‘s Ryan Gosling and Oppenheimer‘s Emily Blunt were joining forces for an upcoming movie, the world was curious to know what it was going to be about. However, that curiosity does not seem to have translated into an interest in watching the movie when it was released in the theaters.
Loosely based on the eponymous 1980s TV show, The Fall Guy is an action comedy film, which follows Gosling in the role of a stuntman who works on his ex-girlfriend’s movie in hopes of getting her back but ends up getting embroiled in the conspiracy surrounding the movie’s missing lead actor.
Despite how promising the movie sounds, it has only managed to earn $127 million globally (via The Numbers), which is quite disappointing considering its production budget of $130 million (via The Hollywood Reporter). To break even, the movie would have to make at least double the amount invested into its making.
Further, to be deemed profitable, the movie needed to have a worldwide gross of at least 2.5 times its budget. Unfortunately, the stars did not seem to be aligned for this movie as it failed to have a successful box office run.
What Caused The Fall Guy to Have Such a Lackluster Box Office Performance?
With Gosling and Blunt in the lead roles and supporting actors like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, and Stephanie Hsu among others, it was expected that the movie would turn in a huge profit. It would not be wrong to say that the movie defied expectations but in a bad way.
This brings everyone to question what caused it to have such an underwhelming performance. While the answer is not simple, the marketing of the movie might have played a huge part in its failure. For a movie that is an action comedy, The Fall Guy seemed to have put more emphasis on comedy during marketing.
The main focus should have been the action scenes since there were plenty of those in the movie and also because it is based on the action series from the ’80s. Not to mention that director David Leitch’s expertise lies in that genre if his past work in Atomic Blonde, John Wick, Deadpool 2, and Bullet Train is anything to go by.
Neither the trailers nor the ads emphasized the massive and mindblowing practical stunts, and this seemed to have dulled its appeal. Maybe the audience will notice the movie in the future and give it the attention it deserves.
The Fall Guy is in the theatres.
