The Fall Guy stands as probably the greatest love letter to movie stuntmen ever. But it might have accidentally brought more attention to another aspect of the film world: the ever-decreasing theater-to-VOD release window. As reported by numerous sources, The Fall Guy is looking to make its video-on-demand debut on Tuesday, May 21st – less than three weeks after it hit theaters.

Leading into opening weekend, it was apparent that The Fall Guy would have a tough time recovering its reported budget, pegged around $130 million or so. While it opened at #1, the real number Universal was looking at that Sunday was $27.7 million, not even a tenth of the budget. To date, The Fall Guy has taken in around $110 million, with a nearly even split between domestic and international tallies. But that just isn’t enough for Universal, who are reportedly looking to cut their losses and drop The Fall Guy on web services next week.

All of this underlines a growing trend in the movie industry, which, admittedly, has been going on for quite some time: if it’s not performing, yank it. Long gone are the days of letting a movie breathe and develop and find an audience while still in theaters. Now, the window between day one of a theatrical run and day one of a streaming debut is minimal. And if that’s the case, what reason are studios going to give people to spend money on a ticket? Why wouldn’t they just wait 30 days and virtually get it for free?

During Covid, a number of studios made deals with theater chains over just how long movies had to run before hitting VOD. And it can get tight if a movie underperforms; thus, The Fall Guy being up for download and streaming just a couple of weeks after its premiere. This tactic feels like a permanent fail-safe for studios, but it also demonstrates their lack of trust in their movie. Sure, The Fall Guy probably wouldn’t have recouped its budget domestically, but it’s the precise sort of movie you’d want to see on the big screen and not on your phone.

How do you feel about The Fall Guy hitting VOD next week? Did you see it coming or do limited theatrical windows still shock you?

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