Ryan Reynolds Free Guy Movie Removed From Release Schedule

Forum 3 years ago

Ryan Reynolds Free Guy Movie Removed From Release Schedule

The latest film to suffer a release delay is Ryan Reynolds' video game comedy Free Guy, which has officially been pulled off Disney's calendar.

Ryan Reynolds' video game comedy Free Guy has officially been delayed indefinitely. The Shawn Levy-directed film stars Reynolds as an unassuming bank teller named Guy who frequently gets attacked and held up by gun-toting criminals. Why? He's a non-playable character in a video game similar to Grand Theft Auto. When Guy learns the truth behind his existence, he's plunged into a journey of self-discovery as he fights to keep the game alive. Free Guy also stars Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi.

Free Guy was originally slated for release in July of this year, but the coronavirus pandemic led to Disney pushing it to December. For some time, the studio remained committed to this time frame, though it was always likely the film would be delayed once more. In fact, the Free Guy cast came together to make a video poking fun at their preparedness for a possible delay. Now, it turns out that video was on the right track.

As of today, Disney has officially delayed Free Guy. Instead of giving it a new release date, the studio has removed it from its release calendar entirely, leaving it unclear as to when Free Guy will actually be released. Disney has also pulled Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile off the calendar.

Free Guy's latest delay doesn't come as much of a surprise, seeing as most major end-of-year films have already fled to later dates. The only tentpole to remain on the release calendar for 2020 is Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 on December 25, but many are expecting it to be delayed as well. At this point, most studios have decided it's smarter to wait until more movie theaters are open and more customers are willing to return. This doesn't help those theaters that are in fact open and are in need of some fresh content, but studios are more interested in giving their films the best shot at financial success.

This leaves the question: When could Free Guy be released? The lack of a new date at this time leads one to wonder if Disney is considering a straight-to-Disney+ release, just like Mulan, Artemis Fowl, and Soul. Right now, it's hard to say what the studio is planning, but that could be an option. Another avenue is Free Guy waiting for summer 2021, which would once again cement it as a potential summer blockbuster. Odds are, Disney is waiting to see how the coming weeks and months play out before they decide what's best for Free Guy. Hopefully, though, it'll be released in a way that gives it the audience it deserves, whether it's through streaming or theaters.