Ryan Reynolds’ ‘Free Guy’ Game to Face Pandemic at Box Office – Deadline

After industry and Black Widow Star Scarlett Johansson’s wrath at Disney’s day-and-date strategy, Disney returns to theatrical window form this weekend with free guy, the video game-inspired romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Shawn Levy. This is Disney’s first big window-respecting theatrical release since the 20th Century Studios horror photo The empty man last October, which came out at a time when Regal, New York and Los Angeles were still closed.

free guy was developed by the brass of 20th Century Fox before the pandemic and was inherited by Disney through the acquisition of the studio. To Disney’s credit, he believed in the movie and kept it going throughout the pandemic rather than streaming it. The photo has a mid-August release as the studio believed in hindsight that Covid would have eased by this point – not to mention Reynolds who had already had great success in mid-August with Lionsgate. The bodyguard of the hitman in 2017, which opened at $ 21.3 million nationally and closed at $ 75.4 million in the United States and $ 176.6 million globally. The sequel to that film in mid-June opened at No.1 but with much less fanfare, at $ 11.4 million over three days and $ 16.7 million over five. Note, however, that Lionsgate spends less on P&A than Disney’s traditional Big Bang. Additionally, the Burbank, Calif., Studio has more social media marketing strength in its sister businesses.

Still, free guy comes at a time when there are concerns about the impending Delta variant, not to mention the fact that the kids are going back to school and that’s the original IP, which is always a box office challenge. This Friday, comScore is showing 67% of K-12 schools, up from 89% during the summer vacation last Friday. As such, the hope is that free guy reaches the middle of adolescence with the national soundtrack in its 4,100 theaters. A startup of over $ 20 million would be phenomenal, but is not guaranteed.

Disney opened Jungle cruise two weekends ago at $ 35 million, $ 10 million more than the follow-up and at a time when there were still concerns about the Delta variant.

The Levy-headed free guy goes into 70% of the foreign soundtrack landscape with an expected start of $ 20 million +. It will make its debut in major territories like France, Korea and Italy today; Germany, Russia, Australia and Mexico will follow on Thursday; and the UK and Japan arc is Friday. Not to go out in this opening suite are Spain (staying away from a religious holiday) and Brazil (where a wider berth has been carved due to The suicide squad). These two markets go to the next session. Additionally, Southeast Asia (except Singapore) remains closed and there is no date for China on free guy so far – although in a positive sign, Pixar Luca just received a PRC release on August 20, which could mean new dates for Hollywood after a long drought.

Here in the states, free guy premieres tomorrow at 6 p.m. From its national exhibition footprint, there are 330 Imax auditoriums, 700+ Premium Large Format screens; 1,200 3D slots and 200 specialized D-Box / 4D screens. free guy follows among 18-34 year olds, mostly men, but not too bad with younger women.

Two other wide releases, also respecting a theatrical window, are in the mix this weekend: the highly anticipated biopic of Aretha Franklin from MGM / United Artists Releasing Respect starring Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson as Soul Queen in 3,207 theaters, and Sony / Screen Gems and Stage 6’s Don’t breathe 2 at 3,000 locations.

In what seemed to be a different time, the first Don’t breathe opened at the end of August 2016 for a surprising amount of 26.4 million dollars in the United States and 89.2 million dollars national, 157.8 million dollars in the world on a budget (before P&A) of less than 10 million dollars. The premieres of the suite directed by Rodo Sayagues begin at 6 p.m.

Respect hope for her better high start to single digit given its solid 71% new reviews. The photo is aimed at older women and African Americans, with the overall demo of older women reluctant to go to the movies during the pandemic. Sessions start at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Don’t breathe 2 looked $ 8M- $ 10M which is the same lineup as Sony’s other summer horror sequel, Escape Game: Tournament of Champions, which debuted at $ 8.8 million nationally and grossed $ 23 million in its fourth weekend. No RT rating yet for Don’t breathe 2.

All in all, it’s a real battle this weekend to see if sour pandemic headlines can damage the turnstiles, but at what is already a traditionally funky time at the summer soundtrack.

Comps for free guy abroad are recent Disney releases Cruel and Jungle cruise – despite their day and date streaming strategy (before the pandemic, we would watch more Loan Player One, which achieved 49% of its box office abroad in China). The momentum and sentiment have grown: in France, in particular, the film has the greatest envy of all new titles. Rotten tomatoes for free guy amounts to 86% of certified costs.

It’s important to keep in mind that offshore markets continue to see changing Covid restrictions and / or shutdowns. For example, cinemas in Australian regions accounting for around 70% of the national box office are closed, and France and Italy are struggling to adjust to the health passport requirement. Japan gave F9 a good start to the last session, but there are still states of emergency in place with the curfew on office hours set at 8pm until August 31st. This weekend is the annual Obon festival in the market where The suicide squad also opens. Still, Japan is a big gaming market, so free guy is likely to see a good deed.

Elsewhere, the UK and Russia have been doing well lately, as has Germany (although there is a strong local title in the mix with Constantin’s Kaiserschmarrn drama that has just set a pandemic opening record for a German film).

Reynolds recently enjoyed international success with the dead Pool movies and Pokémon Detective Pikachu. If word of mouth continues its positive trend, and as markets further disentangle themselves from Covid traffic jams, the movie may well be released. Cruel, for example, has posted strong positions and reached a multiple of 4.5 times with $ 136 million to date internationally.