The Fall Guy | May 3, 2024 | Universal | Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt | Based off the 80s TV show

[filmlover]

FWIW movies about Hollywood and the entertainment business have rarely broken out big, so it's possible that this always faced an uphill battle in grabbing attention. There's definitely been a confused tone to the marketing, they've been moving away from the Gosling/Blunt connection after trying to extend last year's meme (Barbenheimer) into this year wasn't working.

[MightyDargon]

Just to be purely pedantic, Gosling's whining about Gerwig not getting a Best Director nom (when the movie was already nominated for Best Picture!) was really fucking annoying.

[emoviefan]

2 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

Just to be purely pedantic, Gosling's whining about Gerwig not getting a Best Director nom (when the movie was already nominated for Best Picture!) was really fucking annoying.

And my guess is nobody really cares or remembers that and certainly not why the movie is struggling to break out. 

[MightyDargon]

Just now, emoviefan said:

And my guess is nobody really cares or remembers that and certainly not why the movie is struggling to break out. 

I'm sure you're correct on that. Problem is sticking Blunt/Gosling in the same film does not=Barbenheimer in hype terms.

[emoviefan]

3 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

I'm sure you're correct on that. Problem is sticking Blunt/Gosling in the same film does not=Barbenheimer in hype terms.

Well bioth show how nobody  can remember anything anymore hat did not happen in the the previous seven days or something.

[Firepower]

54 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

Just to be purely pedantic, Gosling's whining about Gerwig not getting a Best Director nom (when the movie was already nominated for Best Picture!) was really fucking annoying.

I remember the same nonsense when she wasn't nominated for Best Director for Little Women, it was annoying even back then.

Edited May 1 by Firepower

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

51 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

I'm sure you're correct on that. Problem is sticking Blunt/Gosling in the same film does not=Barbenheimer in hype terms.

That was always obvious. In 2009, The Hangover and The Proposal were huge summer hits. That Labor Day weekend, a Sandra Bullock/Bradley Cooper romcom was released and it still flopped. To be fair, All About Steve got dreadful reviews, so that's a case where leaning on other movies to sell it made sense—it had few merits of its own.

 

Pushed too extensively, the "You liked Barbenheimer, right? Right???" angle just makes it seem like The Fall Guy can't stand on its own strengths. The good reviews haven't translated to good ticket sales unfortunately. It's like people made up their minds in either direction after seeing the (long) trailers.

 

 

Edited May 1 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[Cmasterclay]

Friend of mine had a good word that put the finger on why this movie isn't connecting with me (and possibly others) - it feels Algorithm-y.

[SpiderByte]

4 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Friend of mine had a good word that put the finger on why this movie isn't connecting with me (and possibly others) - it feels Algorithm-y.

I dunno, a stunt-themed action romcom isn't like a generic type.

[Pinacolada]

I honestly think the trailer(s) are kinda confusing and lacked a hook.

 

The actual plot of the movie is the star of the movie has gone missing, and they send the stuntman to go find him

 

But that's like 20 seconds of the 3 minute 30 second trailer. The rest of it is just showing "Look at all these stunts from a fake movie they're shooting within the film! Also, there's kinda this romance a little bit!"

 

Bullet Train worked because it had a really killer and easy premise to sell. "All these hitmen are on this Bullet Train going after the same Brief Case"

 

The Fall Guy doesn't have that/hasn't done it. 

[TomThomas]

13 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Friend of mine had a good word that put the finger on why this movie isn't connecting with me (and possibly others) - it feels Algorithm-y.

How exactly?

[Cmasterclay]

I'm rooting for this movie to do well. Outstandingly well. I just have never gotten the hype, tbh. All I'm saying is that if it disappoints, maybe it isn't exclusively a referendum on "original ideas" and audiences simply weren't buying it.

[filmlover]

48 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

That was always obvious. In 2009, The Hangover and The Proposal were huge summer hits. That Labor Day weekend, a Sandra Bullock/Bradley Cooper romcom was released and it still flopped. To be fair, All About Steve got dreadful reviews, so that's a case where leaning on other movies to sell it made sense—it had few merits of its own.

 

Pushed too extensively, the "You liked Barbenheimer, right? Right???" angle just makes it seem like The Fall Guy can't stand on its own strengths. The good reviews haven't translated to good ticket sales unfortunately. It's like people made up their minds in either direction after seeing the (long) trailers.

 

 

Has any movie ever succeeded piggybacking off an actor's success from another movie? There's always an outlier like Sweet Home Alabama (believe it or not, this held the September opening record for an entire decade lol), which had Reese fresh off of Legally Blonde, but those are the exceptions, not the rules, and were also in what might as well be a completely different moviegoing world at this point (that movie was also backed by a relentless marketing campaign at the time, you couldn't flip through the television without seeing an ad for it every 5 seconds in the weeks leading up to its release back when TV spots were seen as a powerful marketing tool).

[Flopped]

I'm sure a mod will warn me for this but I find it SO DISTRACTING in the trailer the amount of filler in both of their faces. 

[Borobudur]

The movie is good but I can't help but to feel unrefreshing. It is kind of movie you won't regret watching it but neither "you have to see it"

[Flopped]

30 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Has any movie ever succeeded piggybacking off an actor's success from another movie? There's always an outlier like Sweet Home Alabama (believe it or not, this held the September opening record for an entire decade lol), which had Reese fresh off of Legally Blonde, but those are the exceptions, not the rules, and were also in what might as well be a completely different moviegoing world at this point (that movie was also backed by a relentless marketing campaign at the time, you couldn't flip through the television without seeing an ad for it every 5 seconds in the weeks leading up to its release back when TV spots were seen as a powerful marketing tool).

 

Sleeping with the Enemy held the record for (1) best February opening and (2) biggest opening for a solo female-led film off the back of Pretty Woman. 

[cinema pal]

2 hours ago, Pinacolada said:

I honestly think the trailer(s) are kinda confusing and lacked a hook.

 

The actual plot of the movie is the star of the movie has gone missing, and they send the stuntman to go find him

 

But that's like 20 seconds of the 3 minute 30 second trailer. The rest of it is just showing "Look at all these stunts from a fake movie they're shooting within the film! Also, there's kinda this romance a little bit!"

 

I was conflicted after the first 20-30 min. Trailers were selling a much bigger movie. Then next hour was a really great mix of comedy, action and romance. But the third act turned into a noisy, silly, over the top MichaelBay-ish mayhem and Lietch kinda lost me

 

[vale9001]

i saw it today on a 250 seats screen was almost full. But here today is an holiday so maybe doesn't mean thart much.

Edited May 1 by vale9001

[vale9001]

i think the barbenheimer thing doesnt't have too impact cause Blunt isn' that connected by the GP to Oppenheimer. She has like 10 minutes in the movie. Murphy and Downey J.R are the ones more connected to the movie (the oscar winners after all).

 

Gosling definitely is more connected to Ken  but the two together doesn't work that much in this sense.

 

Something could have made some big barbenhimer post buzz would have been an (action) romantic comedy with Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy. 

Edited May 1 by vale9001

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

4 hours ago, Pinacolada said:

I honestly think the trailer(s) are kinda confusing and lacked a hook.

 

The actual plot of the movie is the star of the movie has gone missing, and they send the stuntman to go find him

 

But that's like 20 seconds of the 3 minute 30 second trailer. The rest of it is just showing "Look at all these stunts from a fake movie they're shooting within the film! Also, there's kinda this romance a little bit!"

 

Bullet Train worked because it had a really killer and easy premise to sell. "All these hitmen are on this Bullet Train going after the same Brief Case"

 

The Fall Guy doesn't have that/hasn't done it. 

Maybe there should have been one trailer featuring mostly action and other that showcases the comedy/romance. Instead, both 3 minute trailers are a hodge podge of genres, so instead of appealing to multiple audiences it struck some people as unfocused?

 

Movies can balance more than one tone, of course, but in these challenging times for theatrical, "original" movies might be better served by keeping the pitch to audiences extremely simple. The premise of the original TV series is a stuntman moonlighting as a bounty hunter.

Edited May 1 by BoxOfficeFangrl