Though it may not have been the box office hit some expected, The Fall Guy is taking off on streaming. The Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt-led action-comedy served as a movie adaptation of the '80s TV show, revolving around a stuntman wrapped up in a murder conspiracy while being recruited to work on his ex-girlfriend's directorial debut, hoping to win her back. Hailing from Deadpool 2's David Leitch, The Fall Guy garnered largely positive reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office, grossing just over $180 million against its $125 million production budget.
Now, Deadline reports that The Fall Guy has set a major streaming record for Peacock. The action-comedy, which debuted on the platform over the Labor Day weekend, became Peacock's biggest film debut, surpassing the record previously held by Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, while also being the second-most-watched film on all streaming in the U.S. that weekend, according to Nielsen data. Sources report that users who tuned into the Paris Olympics were a key factor in the movie's success, being both the top film and the No. 2 title overall watched by said users behind Love Island USA. Additionally, The Fall Guy's extended cut saw 92% of the movie's streaming.
What The Fall Guy's Streaming Success Means
Could A Sequel Get Off The Ground Thanks To This New Record?
While its box office disappointment came as somewhat of a surprise when compared to its reviews, The Fall Guy's financial returns weren't entirely the fault of the movie. Spring 2024 saw something of a box office slump following Dune: Part Two and Kung Fu Panda 4's strong theatrical runs, with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire memorably underperforming, Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare bombing and both The First Omen and Monkey Man only proving to be modest successes. See how The Fall Guy compared to other major Spring 2024 releases at the box office and on Rotten Tomatoes in the chart below:
Title | RT Critics Score | RT Audience Score | Box Office |
---|---|---|---|
Dune: Part Two | 92% | 95% | $711.8 Million |
Kung Fu Panda 4 | 71% | 86% | $548 Million |
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | 42% | 83% | $201.9 Million |
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | 54% | 91% | $568.7 Million |
The First Omen | 81% | 70% | $53.9 Million |
Monkey Man | 89% | 84% | $35 Million |
Civil War | 81% | 70% | $122.5 Million |
Abigail | 83% | 85% | $42.4 Million |
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare | 69% | 93% | $27.3 Million |
The Fall Guy | 82% | 86% | $180.5 Million |
Tarot | 18% | 59% | $49.1 Million |
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | 80% | 78% | $397.4 Million |
IF | 50% | 88% | $190.1 Million |
The Strangers: Chapter 1 | 21% | 44% | $47.8 Million |
The fact that The Fall Guy's streaming success came amid the Paris Olympics is actually a really promising sign of the movie's ongoing viewership numbers. Paired with the movie's 86% score from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, it's clear that many viewers were either intrigued by the coupling of Blunt and Gosling in an action movie, or were keen on revisiting the movie after seeing it in theaters. For those who did turn to it for a first-time viewing, the 8% of viewers who didn't watch the extended cut are likely to tune into the longer version, in addition to repeat viewers.
Related
The Fall Guy was meant to launch an action franchise for Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and I'm hoping the sequel still happens to end their bad luck.
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With the movie's streaming success, the question now becomes how likely a Fall Guy 2 is to happen. Prior to the first movie's release, Gosling revealed that the script was already complete for the sequel, a surprising move given how big the budget was for the first Fall Guy. At the same time, the studio likely wasn't expecting the box office slump the movie found itself in the midst of, potentially putting their faith in a follow-up too soon by tasking Drew Pearce to pen the script.
The Fall Guy Will Need To Keep Its Numbers Up For A Sequel
Streaming Numbers Are Just As Vital As The Box Office For Franchises
While this early streaming success is a good sign for the chances of a follow-up, The Fall Guy 2 still has a long road ahead to get greenlit. One of the biggest things the movie will need to do to prove to Universal a sequel is viable is for these streaming numbers to remain consistent over the coming weeks. A decline in viewership is certainly normal for any streaming title, be it a new premiere or platform mainstay, though with an expensive production like The Fall Guy, how it performs in its first month will be more vital.
Peacock's streaming numbers won't be the only viewership figures Universal looks at for The Fall Guy. The studio has a specific deal with Netflix in which they stream their movies on Peacock for four months in the pay-TV window before moving onto the other platform. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was one of the more notable recent releases to do so, with the animated video game adaptation finding major success upon its Netflix premiere, bringing in 4.8 million hours viewed from 3.1 million views.
Should The Fall Guy enjoy a similar success if it moves to another streaming platform beyond Peacock, it would be another promising sign of its sequel chances. Leitch, Gosling and Blunt clearly had a lot of fun making the 2024 action-comedy, and with a script already completed, the development process could be fast-tracked to production, and Universal could look for a more feasible release window for The Fall Guy 2 to avoid the same box office foibles of the original.
Source: Deadline

The Fall Guy
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PG-13
Action
Drama
Thriller
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.
- Director
- David Leitch
- Release Date
- May 3, 2024
- Studio(s)
- Universal Pictures , Entertainment 360 , 87North Productions
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Writers
- Glen A. Larson , Drew Pearce
- Cast
- Ryan Gosling , Emily Blunt , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Stephanie Hsu , Winston Duke , Hannah Waddingham , Teresa Palmer
- Runtime
- 126 Minutes
- Main Genre
- Action