North American moviegoers fall for Gosling, Blunt in The Fall Guy

UNIVERSAL’S new action film The Fall Guy opened atop the North American box office this weekend, taking in an estimated US$28.5 million at a time moviegoing has hit a slump, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (May 5).

Based on a 1980s TV series, the film from stuntman-turned-director David Leitch features stunning action sequences, including one already Guinness-certified record stunt.

It also benefits from the star power of recent Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

Analysts called the film’s opening disappointing given its US$130 million production cost, but David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research said he viewed it as “the potential start of an action comedy series”.

In second was Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, scoring US$8.1 million, a surprising amount for the re-release of a 25-yearold film, one available for viewing at home and which was hardly the most popular in the Star Wars franchise.

Last weekend’s list-topper, MGM’S tennis-based romance Challengers, slipped to third at US$7.6 million for the Friday-through-sunday period. Singer/ actor Zendaya plays a tennis star who retires after an injury, then later helps her husband (Mike Faist) prepare for a key match against her former lover and his erstwhile friend (Josh O’connor).

Fourth place went to a new horror film, Tarot from Sony and Screen Gems, at US$6.5 million. While critics’ reviews have been poor – the film “leaves no horror cliche unturned,” Variety said – it cost just US$8 million to make, so producers should not be having nightmares.

And in fifth was Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire, at US$4.5 million in its sixth weekend out. The battling monsters have so far grossed US$188 million domestically and an additional US$337 million globally.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

■ Civil War (US$3.6 million).

■ Unsung Hero (US$3 million).

■ Kung Fu Panda 4 (US$2.4 million).

■ Abigail (US$2.3 million).

■ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (US$1.8 million).