‘Fall 2: Deadpoint’ Just Proved a Sequel Isn’t Always a Safe Bet at the Box Office

Sleeper hits have a tricky legacy to live up to when studios decide to turn them into franchises. The original 2022 survival thriller became an unexpected success story on a shoestring budget, the kind of scrappy genre film that quietly builds a following and convinces a studio there’s room for more.

That success set the stage for a planned trilogy, with Lionsgate betting that audiences who fell for the first film’s vertigo-inducing tension would show up again for more of the same white-knuckle thrills. Unfortunately, the sequel’s opening weekend numbers suggest that bet hasn’t paid off quite the way the studio hoped.

‘Fall 2: Deadpoint‘ opened domestically with just $2.3 million, a projection that lines up closely with Wikipedia’s own estimate of around $2.6 million for the opening frame. The film had already grossed just $573,000 across its first two days of release, including $262,000 on Thursday from 1,502 locations.

That soft launch stands in sharp contrast to the ambitions behind the franchise. The original ‘Fall’ finished its entire theatrical run with only $18 million worldwide back in 2022, working from a tiny $3 million budget, meaning this sequel’s opening is actually down from where its predecessor started.

Critical reception hasn’t done the film many favors either. ‘Fall 2: Deadpoint’ currently sits at a mixed 58% to 59% on Rotten Tomatoes depending on the sample size, while Metacritic assigned it a “mixed or average” score of 53 out of 100 based on eight critic reviews.

Audience reaction has cooled slightly compared to the original as well. CinemaScore gave the sequel a “B-” grade, a step down from the “B” the first film earned from opening night moviegoers.

The story follows Harriet Slater as Jax Hunter, who is still grieving the death of her sister Shiloh from the first film, and bonds with Shiloh’s friend Luce, played by Arsema Thomas, as the two attempt a dangerous climb up Thailand’s Mount Kwan. When a rockslide traps them thousands of feet in the air on a narrow plank, the pair is forced to fight for survival with dwindling resources and no clear way down.

Despite the underwhelming debut, the film’s low budget likely means it still has a path to profitability once streaming and television distribution are factored in. Lionsgate has also already confirmed a third installment in the franchise, suggesting the studio remains committed to the series regardless of how this particular chapter performs theatrically.

Directed by twins Peter and Michael Spierig, working from a screenplay co-written by original director Scott Mann, the sequel arrives after a bumpy road to release that included a date shift from an original August 7 target to its eventual September 2 debut. Whether that delay contributed to the film’s soft opening or simply reflects a crowded late-summer marketplace remains up for debate.

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