The Fall Guy easily claimed the top spot at the US box office, but the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt action comedy came in below earlier forecasts with an estimated $27.7 million for the weekend. The big-screen remake of the cult 80s series has fallen short of the $30-40 million estimates and has set the unfavourable record as the worst first weekend in May opening for almost 20 years. 

Before we monger any doom, a soft opening doesn't automatically make a movie a flop. The Fall Guy director David Leitch's last offering, Bullet Train, launched to a domestic opening weekend of $30 million and hit $103 million (plus a robust $135 million internationally) by the time it finished its theatrical run. However, Bullet Train had a production budget of $90 million, so its break even point was much lower than the $130 million price tag of The Fall Guy. Only time will tell if the palpable chemistry between Gosling and Blunt can equate to box office success.

Regardless of what you may think of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, one thing is irrefutable: The Phantom Menace is celebrating its 25th anniversary and is back in cinemas. Proving the force is still strong even with a divisive movie like Phantom Menace, the limited one-week re-release pulled in $8.7 million for the weekend, fuelled by the May the Fourth celebrations. Last week's number 1 dropped two places, with Challengers taking $7.5 million for its second frame; the Zendya-led drama has currently notched up more than $29.4 domestically for a global haul of $53 million and counting. 

Next is the horror movie Tarot, based on Nicolas Adamas's book Horrorscope (which remains a better title than the generic Tarot). The movie generated an estimated and underwhelming $6.5 million and just $3.7 million internationally. The usually reliable horror genre is struggling to land a breakout hit this year, with the likes of Imaginary, Night Swim, Immaculate, Abigail, and The First Omen all underperforming at the box office. 

Meanwhile, Godzilla X Kong is now the highest-grossing entry in the Warner Bros Monsterverse with a respectable worldwide total of $547 million. Along with Dune Part 2, and Kung Fu Panda 4, Godzilla X Kong is performing like a summer blockbuster. Elsewhere, Alex Garland's Civil War continues its impressive run as it edges closer to $100 million, Kung Fu Panda 4 soared over the $500 million mark, and Radio Silence's horror romp, Abigail, continues to do sparse business. The directing duo behind Ready or Not and the last two Scream sequels' new horror offering has currently grossed $24 million domestically and $12 million overseas.

While many publications have quickly labelled Ghostbusters Frozen Empire a box office disaster, it's worth noting that the previous movie, Afterlife, generated $204 million in 2021. While the pandemic was still limiting audience numbers in cinemas, healthy Home Entertainment sales helped push Afterlife into profitability, and Sony was happy enough to greenlight a sequel. Frozen Empire generated $195 million worldwide at the time of writing, so it is close to the final tally for the previous instalment. 

Afterlife had a smaller production budget ($75 million) compared to Frozen Empire ($100 million), so, using the loose rule of thumb that a movie needs to make three times its cost back to break even, Frozen Empire needs to hit at least $300 million. The movie won't do that theatrically, but it will eventually break even. It's not a combination of words any franchise wants to hear, so it could be time for Sony to rethink what the future holds for the Ghostbusters.