“The Fall Guy” kicks off the summer movie season with an underwhelming debut

“The Fall Guy,” an action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, kicked off the summer movie season without much fanfare. The film, supported by Universal and directed by David Leitch, was slightly below expectations, with 28.5 million dollars from 4,002 North American theaters at its debut, according to Variety, quoted by News.ro.

At the start of the weekend, “The Fall Guy” was expected to earn at least $30 million to $40 million. The film cost $140 million to produce, so it also needs interest at the international box office to recoup its budget during its theatrical run. “The Fall Guy” opened to $25.4 million overseas, bringing its global total to $65.4 million.

“The Fall Guy” stars Gosling as a former stuntman who tries to track down a missing movie star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in order to save a major studio film being directed by his ex-girlfriend (Blunt ).

“We are incredibly proud of this film,” said Universal’s president of domestic distribution, Jim Orr. “It’s an exciting and charming film that I have no doubt will have a strong run.”

“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” debuted in second place on the chart with $8 million. The film added $6.4 million internationally, bringing its weekend total to $14.5 million worldwide.

“Challengers,” which topped last weekend with $15 million, dropped to third with $7.65 million in its second outing, down 49 percent from its debut. After 10 days of release, the film, produced by Amazon MGM studios and director Luca Guadagnino, generated 29.4 million dollars. “Challengers” has a significant price tag of around $55 million, so it needs to keep going at that pace to justify that budget.

“Tarot,” debuting in fourth place with $6.5 million, is a supernatural story about friends who unleash evil from a cursed deck of tarot cards. The film has terrible reviews, which will not help its market success.

“Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire” rounded out the top five with $4.5 million in its sixth weekend. The production grossed $188 million domestically and $546 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of the year.