A Marvel-less May

In the movie business, the month of May has come to mean two things: the start of the summer box office and the release of a major Marvel movie.

This year, however, Walt Disney Co.'s only Marvel release is not hitting theaters until July, meaning this summer will instead have to launch with a fall guy — namely, Ryan Gosling.

"The Fall Guy" marks Gosling's first return to theaters since he starred as Ken in 2023's top-grossing film "Barbie." The new action-comedy is loosely based on the TV show of the same name that aired from 1981 to 1986 and starred Lee Majors. The plot involves a film stuntman having to get involved in real action movie scenarios.

In addition to Gosling, the new movie also stars Emily Blunt, of 2023's other summer breakthrough "Oppenheimer." That movie explored the creators and creation of the atomic bomb. "The Fall Guy" looks to be much lighter in tone, drawing on the positive power of Kenergy, which the film industry hopes will be a renewable resource.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan, audiences have had a mixed reaction to action-comedy films based on TV shows. Some, like "21 Jump Street" and its sequel, "22 Jump Street," did quite well, earning $202.8 million and $331.3 million respectively in terms of their worldwide gross.

Others failed to break through. The 2019 remake of "Charlie's Angels" was largely unable to tempt people back to theaters amid the pandemic, earning a total domestic gross of only $17.8 million and a total worldwide gross of just $73.2 million. Pre-pandemic, the buddy cop action comedy "CHIPS" crashed and burned, earning a total domestic gross of just $18.6 million and a worldwide gross of $23.2 million.

Between the star power of Gosling and Blunt and the generally positive reviews for "The Fall Guy," the new film will likely be among the better-performing action-comedies based on a TV show.

Even so, it will be hard to match the past performance of the Marvel films that have typically opened the summer movie season. Those titles included some of Marvel's biggest hits, including four Avengers films and all three Iron Man movies.

Looking farther out, 2024's summer slate will feature a number of franchises. Disney will finally enter the fray with its first two wide releases of the year, "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine." The latter is the one Marvel movie on the 2024 calendar — packing in two heroes for the price of one — and is also the first R-rated Marvel movie released by Disney. The two previous Deadpool movies, both R-rated, were released by 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired TFCF Corp. assets in 2019. Wolverine, as played by Hugh Jackman, has been in one R-rated film, 2017's "Logan."

The Minions will also be back onscreen this summer in "Despicable Me 4," courtesy of NBCUniversal Media LLC's Universal Pictures. The Minions were last in theaters in 2022's "The Minions: The Rise of Gru."

The 1996 tornado movie "Twister" has had to wait much longer to get a sequel, but "Twisters" is coming in July. Universal Pictures will handle US distribution for the disaster flick, while Warner Bros. will distribute it internationally.

In terms of original films, the summer slate does not appear to have a "Barbenheimer"-level event on deck. After "The Fall Guy," Paramount Pictures' family film "IF" will go wide later in May. The movie, about imaginary friends, could punch above its weight as 2024 has been light on family entertainment. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, who will return later in the summer in his third outing as Deadpool.

Note: Historical results may have changed due to ongoing film database maintenance.