Stories like this one are always awkward when the film in question disappoints at the box office. But such was the case for The Fall Guy, which was expected to be a huge summer kickoff and yet it only earned $28M domestic and $65M worldwide this past weekend. Ouch. The reviews have been great, though, and there’s still a chance it can recoup the $130M-$150M budget. It might be the only chance to secure the sequel star Ryan Gosling says is ready to go.
Speaking with FastCompany, Gosling says a sequel to The Fall Guy is already written and he’s ready to strap in for more stuntman action…
“We already—I mean, we love these characters so much that we wanted to know, just for ourselves, what happens to Colt and [Emily Blunt’s character] Jody after the movie ends?” said Gosling. “What’s the next phase for them? And we know exactly what it is. So hopefully the audience wants to know, too.”
He added, “The sequel sort of wrote itself. We already know [the story] intimately. We’re just hoping that people like this movie enough that we get to keep telling the story of these characters. We love them so much, and we love this world, and I feel confident that we can do it.”
And there’s the kicker. Does the audience want more of The Fall Guy? The reviews and score ratings say “yes”, even if the box office doesn’t. This is going to be a tough call for Universal because they have a potential hit franchise on their hands, with big stars and a superstar director in David Leitch. I think they will wait and see the full picture, including streaming numbers, before making a decision.
For what it’s worth, writer Drew Pearce is hedging his bets in a conversation with Cinemablend, while also expressing his enthusiasm to do another one…
“Listen, nobody wants to goad the Movie Gods with Hubristic talk of sequels , I will say, I’m really excited for this movie to come out this weekend. It feels, literally, of a moment. Spring has sprung . There’s a real ‘nature is healing’ vibe to this film. It’s a good time. It’s unashamedly a good time. And I’ve certainly, over the last few years, kind of relearned the value of the Friday night movie in my life, personally. And what I would say is that (it) becomes quite addictive. Because actually, you know, talking to people at the premier last night and over the last couple of weeks – actually making a piece of art that brings joy, I kind of think it’s undervalued. So if we got the chance to do more of those Friday nights, I would be so here for it. And I think there’s so many places to go with it.”
