Advertisement
The Fall Guy was supposed to hit harder. A high-octane love letter to stunt performers, packed with fireworks, charm, and that irresistible Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt duo. But despite critics showing up with praise, audiences didn’t. The film only pulls in around $181 million worldwide (with a domestic and international gross of $92.9M and $88.1M respectively), against a beefy $125–150 million budget as per Box Office Mojo. So, the big question now? Does a sequel even stand a chance?
David Leitch’s action-comedy had all the ingredients. Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a retired stuntman thrown into a real-life mystery when the lead actor of his ex-girlfriend’s film goes missing. Emily Blunt, as Jody Moreno, directs the chaos. Add in Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, and an entire arsenal of explosive set-pieces, and it should’ve worked, especially after Barbie had Gosling back in the cultural spotlight. But The Fall Guy never sticks the landing at the box office.
It’s not that The Fall Guy wasn’t fun. It was. But being loosely based on an ’80s TV show nobody really remembers didn’t exactly give it built-in hype. For most people, it was just another original action flick, and that, unfortunately, isn’t what sells these days. Even though the budget feels justified with its scale and slick visuals, moviegoers barely show up. To make it worse, the film’s thunder gets stolen by the low-budget horror flick Tarot, which ends up grossing over $49 million globally on just $8 million as per Box Office Mojo.
Advertisement
That stings even more when you consider the star power. Gosling and Blunt actually seem like the dream team for a summer franchise. Their chemistry? Effortless. Their comedic timing? Sharp. And yet, The Fall Guy becomes another reminder that even bankable stars can’t save a movie from the IP curse, or the lack of one.
And here’s where the frustration deepens. Gosling’s been here before. Remember The Nice Guys? Critics loved it. Audiences slept on it. Despite Gosling and Russell Crowe being a weirdly perfect pairing, the film barely cleared $71 million globally on a $50 million budget, per Box Office Mojo. That flop killed any hopes of a sequel, even though The Nice Guys oozed potential.
What’s wild is that The Nice Guys had even better reviews than The Fall Guy, which earned an 81% RT score. It holds a 91% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, yet it faced stiff competition from Neighbors 2 and The Angry Birds Movie. Bad timing, wrong crowd, no second chance. Sound familiar?
The creative team’s all in. Gosling and Leitch have publicly said they’d love to return for The Fall Guy 2 (via Entertainment ie). Fans are hoping too. But Universal hasn’t greenlit anything. And given the numbers, they might hesitate. Still, the studio knows one thing — franchises can build over time. And The Fall Guy, with all its heart and heat, might just be one of those slow burns.
So, will Colt and Jody ride again? Nothing’s confirmed. But for a film that celebrates people getting knocked down and standing back up, it feels like the perfect metaphor.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Google News
Advertisement
