Nothing comes easy for “The Fall Guy” (Universal). Despite a home release 18 days after opening (typical for Universal) and outgrossing “Civil War” by $4 million despite playing for four weeks less, Alex Garland’s film shares top honors with the stuntman actioner this week on the VOD charts.
Both films, available for rental for 48 hours at $19.99, placed #1 on one chart apiece. “Civil War” leads at iTunes (ranking by transactions), while “Fall Guy” does at Fandango (calculated by revenue). One factor differentiating the two is that “Civil War” was released on Friday, while “Fall” debuted the previous Tuesday. That gave the latter an edge on Fandango, which has a weekly Monday-Sunday chart. It was #1 on iTunes on Wednesday through Friday, with “Civil War” #1 since.
“Fall” of course has been a disappointment in theaters. With a head of steam ahead of opening to excellent reviews, Ryan Gosling momentum, and a prime early May release date, it fell short of expectations that its domestic total would exceed $125 million. Instead it will end up under $90 million domestic, perhaps $175 million worldwide.
With a $130 million production budget before marketing, the film needs a strong home performance to make it to break even. The high return for PVOD (80 percent to studios less a small carriage charge out of the $19.99 rental) is an incentive to maximize early release. The additional marketing though can help theatrical — its 28 percent drop was easily the smallest among wide Top 10 holdovers this weekend.
The release of these two pushed last week’s leaders down, but otherwise little else changed. A curiosity is the appearance of Amazon MGM’s “Road House” weeks after its streaming debut. On sale digitally for $14.99, it’s #7 on Fandango.
“Dune: Part Two” per streaming app Reel Good was the most watched program of any sort between May 16-22. Its Max premiere comes after Denis Villeneuve’s film has had a terrific theatrical and PVOD run (it still has a $12.99 price). It is still on both VOD charts, boosted by its price reduction, as high as #4 on iTunes.
Just out at Netflix and immediately #1 is Jennifer Lopez’s A.I. war film “Atlas,” directed by Brad Payton (“San Andreas”). Poorly reviewed (Metacritic is at a lousy 38 score), it is the typical star-name led routine film that gets early attention then usually drops out of sight quickly. It replaced Sony’s “Madame Web” (still second) as #1.
The previous #1, the also-original “Mother of the Bride” with Brooke Shields, still placed #5 after three weeks, getting more of a shelf-life than most Netflix home-made entries. Half of their top 10 consists of kids titles, including two recent “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” films from Paramount.
Top 10s
iTunes ranks films daily by number of transactions, while Fandango at Home lists by revenue. The listings below are for Monday, May 27.
The distributors listed are current rights owners. Prices for all titles are for lowest for either rental or download.
iTunes
1. Civil War (A24) – $19.99
2. The Fall Guy (Universal) – $19.99
3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (WB) – $19.99
4. Dune: Part Two (WB) – $12.99
5. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate) – $19.99
6. Challengers (MGM Amazon) – $19.99
7. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) – $19.99
8. Arthur the King (Lionsgate) – $9.99
9. The Last Stop in Yuma County (Well Go) – $6.99
10. Dune/Dune: Part Two (WB) – $17.99
Fandango at Home
1. The Fall Guy (Universal) – $19.99
2. Civil War (A24) – $19.99
3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (WB) – $19.99
4. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) – $19.99
5. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate) – $19.99
6. Arthur the King (Lionsgate) – $9.99
7. Road House (Amazon MGM) – $14.99
8. Abigail (Universal) – $19.99
9. Dune: Part Two (WB) – $12.99
10. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal) – $19.99
Netflix Movies
These are the most-viewed, current rankings on Netflix’s domestic daily chart on Monday, May 27. Originals include both Netflix-produced and acquired titles it initially presents in the U.S. Netflix publishes its own worldwide weekly top 10 on Tuesdays based on time viewed.
1. Atlas (Netflix original)
2. Madame Web (2024 theatrical release)
3. A Simple Favor (2018 theatrical release)
4. Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles 2 (2016 theatrical release)
5. Mother of the Bride (Netflix original)
6. Shrek (2001 theatrical release)
7. Thelma the Unicorn (Netflix animated original)
8. Anyone but You (2023 theatrical release)
9. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023 theatrical release)
10. Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles (2014 theatrical release)