‘The Fall Guy’ Had the Best Peacock Debut Since This Oscar-Winning Drama

This past summer was full of amazing genre films that either captured the audience’s hearts at the box office or were critical darlings. One that literally falls head first into the latter category was The Fall Guy. The David Leitch romantic action thriller starring Ryan GoslingandEmily Blunt was one of the highest rated genre films of the year, scoring a certified fresh critics rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, when it debuted in May, it struggled to make a splash at the box office. The film debuted on Peacock this past holiday weekend and the great word of mouth must have finally paid off because The Fall Guy has had one of the biggest premieres in the streamer’s history.

Reported exclusively by Deadline, The Fall Guy was the second-most watched film over the long Labor Day Weekend and the biggest debut for a film since Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Although NBCUNiversal didn’t say the exact number of people/households that watched Gosling’s stunt-heavy adventure, this news does come from Nielsen. The exact data will be available in the coming weeks. The Paris Olympics are credited for the boost in viewership as Fall Guy was the top-watched film on Olympic-focused accounts as well as the second title overall after Love Island USA. However, this is also another example of a theatrical film doing better on streamers after the fact, rather than a feature that debuted on streaming out the gate. It’ll be interesting to see how The Fall Guy’s viewership holds up in the coming weeks. Especially given “The Extended Cut” is available on Peacock alongside the original theatrical released film. That cut added 20 more minutes to the film and accounted for 92% of the views on Peacock.

What’s ‘The Fall Guy’ About?

The Fall Guy follows stuntman Colt Seavers (Gosling) after a near fatal accident takes him out of the filmmaking game. However, he’s quickly brought back in for a job when the actor he usually doubles for, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), disappears. He’s tasked with finding him before it’s too late, but ends up in his own real-life action movie. To make matters worse, Colt’s on-and-off again lover Jody Moreno (Blunt) is directing the new film he’s working on. While this action-thriller may have lost money by only making $180 million on a $125 million budget, that doesn’t reflect the quality of this sharp rescue mission. It’s an expertly crafted love letter to the unsung heroes of the stunt profession while being an extremely fun, creative and energetic action film in its own right. Leitch is no stranger to crazy action-packed roller coaster rides with gems like Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 under his belt. Yet the romantic spice of life Gosling and Blunt inject into this larger-than-life spectacle is next to none.

You can stream both cuts of The Fall Guy on Peacock now, but it’s also available to rent/buy on all major paid VOD platforms like Fandango at Home. Additionally, if you love to physically own your favorite movies, The Fall Guys is currently available on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD. You can read Collider’s review of the film here.