Summary
Despite being one of themost anticipated movies of 2024,The Fall Guyfell short in its box office performance, but it’s nothing compared to another Ryan Gosling-led movie from eight years ago that was also a box office letdown. Ryan Gosling has been going through a great run in his career since 2016 after starring in the action comedyThe Nice Guysand the musical dramaLa La Land, for which he was nominated for different awards. Fresh off the massive success ofBarbie, Gosling moved on with the action comedyThe Fall Guy, directed by David Leitch.
Loosely based on the 1980s TV series of the same name,The Fall Guyfollows Colt Seavers (Gosling), a Hollywood stunt performer for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who abandons his career after a stunt goes wrong. Over a year later, Colt returns to action as Ryder is missing, and he’s tasked by producer Gail Meyer to find him. Despite counting on the talents of Gosling, Johnson, and Emily Blunt, along with Leitch’s impressive visual style and stunts,The Fall Guydidn’t do as expected at the box office, but it was nothing compared to the failure ofThe Nice Guys.
The Fall Guy Ending Explained
The Fall Guy ends with a bang. With such an exciting conclusion to the story, we break down the action comedy’s ending, sequel plans & major cameos.
The Nice Guys' Box Office Performance Was More Disappointing Than The Fall Guy’s
The Nice Guys Didn’t Succeed At The Box Office As It Should Have
Directed by Shane Black,The Nice Guysis a buddy action comedy written by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi. Set in 1977,The Nice Guysfollows single father and private detective Holland March (Gosling) who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of a famous adult film star named Misty Mountains. His investigation leads him to Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley), who hires violent enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) to scare March away. However, after being interrogated by two hitmen, Healy reluctantly teams up with March to find Amelia, who has gone missing.
The Nice Guyscurrently holds a 91% critics score onRotten Tomatoes, but the audience didn’t entirely agree with critics, giving it a 79% score.
The Nice Guyswas well-received by critics, who praised its humor, tone, and the performances of Crowe and Gosling, who turned out to be a surprisingly great comedic pair.The Nice Guyscurrently holds a 91% critics score onRotten Tomatoes, but the audience didn’t entirely agree with critics, giving it a 79% score. The critics’ praise forThe Nice Guyswasn’t enough to draw people to watch it in theaters, leading to its disappointing box office performance.
With a budget of $50 million,The Nice Guysgrossed $62.8 million, whileThe Fall Guyhad a budget of $125-150 million and grossed $166.6 million. It’s not just the numbers that madeThe Nice Guys’ box office failure a bigger letdown thanThe Fall Guy’s, but also the fact thatit was a better and funnier comedy thanThe Fall Guy, with a lot more potential for a sequel that can no longer be thanks to its box office disappointment.
The Nice Guys 2: Will It Happen? Everything We Know
Though The Nice Guys was a box office bomb, its growing popularity has seen a strong demand for a sequel with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
Why The Nice Guy Failed At The Box Office
The Nice Guy’s Box Office Fail Was Undeserved
The Nice Guyswas released alongside the comedyNeighbors 2: Sorority Risingand the animated movieThe Angry Birds Movie, both becoming box office hits.
The Nice Guyshad everything it needed to become a success, with a story that mixed mystery, comedy, and action, the unbelievable chemistry between Gosling and Crowe, and the star power of both.The Nice Guys’ box office performance wasn’t just disappointing, but also surprising given the movie’s quality and good reviews, butThe Nice Guyshad strong competition when it came out.The Nice Guyswas released alongside the comedyNeighbors 2: Sorority Risingand the animated movieThe Angry Birds Movie, both becoming box office hits.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Risingwas very well received by critics and grossed $108 million against a budget of $35 million, whileThe Angry Birds Movie, while not the critics’ favorite, grossed $352.3 million against a $73 million budget.Neighbors 2carried on with the success of its first movie, whileThe Angry Birds Movienot only successfully appealed to a young audience, but it came from a very popular IP, guaranteeing its success no matter how good or bad the movie really is.
Neighbors 2also shared the same demographic asThe Nice Guys, but had the advantage that the audience was already familiar with its cast, tone, and type of story, whileThe Nice Guyswas completely new and the odd (but great) pair of Gosling/Crowe might not have appealed to many.
Why The Fall Guy Also Underperformed At The Box Office
Audiences Didn’t Give The Fall Guy A Chance
Although it’s based on the 1980s TV show of the same name, this wasn’t common knowledge, so for most viewers, The Fall Guy was a completely new story.
The Fall Guyhad an unexpected competitor at the box office:Tarot, which, despite negative reviews, ended up grossing $45.4 million against an $8 million budget. However, what seems to have hurtThe Fall Guy’s box office performancethe most was that it’s mostly a non-IP movie. Although it’s based on the 1980s TV show of the same name, this wasn’t common knowledge, so for most viewers,The Fall Guywas a completely new story. In addition to that,The Fall GuyTV show wasn’t the most popular of its time, so it wouldn’t have been a hook for the audience.
The Fall Guyalso became a victim of its big budget, though it was absolutely justified due to all its impressive stunts, visual effects, sets, and more. Blockbusters with big budgets have struggled in recent years to make profits, and the same ended up happening toThe Fall Guy.The Nice GuysandThe Fall Guydidn’t deserve their disappointing box office performances, but the former’s was a lot worse.
The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy is an action thriller from Bullet Train and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch. Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who is forced to find a missing movie star, investigate a conspiracy, and repair his relationship with the love of his life. The film was written by Drew Pearce and inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name.
