Disney’s Ryan Reynolds video game movie Free Guy outperformed expectations at the box office for its opening weekend, while Reynolds himself has said Disney wants a sequel.
The box office numbers show that Free Guy made $28.4 million in North America this weekend and many millions more internationally to reach a global cumulative total of $51 million after its opening weekend.
If it isn’t called, “Albuquerque Boiled Turkey” we’ve failed.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 14, 2021
“This is the first non-IP, non-sequel that Disney has released in literally years. And not just because of the pandemic, but because of the culture of our industry, which more and more rarely bets, and bets big–they’ll bet small–but bets big on a new, original movie,” director Shawn Levy told Deadline.
“I want the studios to see that when we give the culture, when we give the audience, something new and original, and therefore inherently original, the audience comes, the audience exists,” he added. “If we end up evolving in an industry that is nothing but sequels and franchises, we’ll be the poorer for it. Not just as an industry, but as a culture.”
Head to Deadline to see a full accounting of Free Guy’s big success. Initial box office projections for Free Guy were lower, due in part to fears that people wouldn’t come out to see it as Covid cases grow with the Delta variant.
Our company @MaximumEffort has a simple mission: “Let’s bring people together in fun, smart and unexpected ways.” Togetherness is the ultimate scarcity good these days so thank you to all the artists and audiences who came TOGETHER to make #FreeGuy such a surprise hit. pic.twitter.com/VdOpK12LcQ
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 15, 2021
Reynolds thanked members of his Maximum Effort production team for all the work they did to bring Free Guy to life, and he thanked audiences for turning up. “Togetherness is the ultimate scarcity good these days, so thank you to all the artists and audiences who came together to make Free Guy such a surprise hit,” he wrote.
As for the sequel, Reynolds said Disney told him they want a sequel. He joked that it should be called “Albuquerque boiled turkey,” which is a reference to a joke in Free Guy. Whatever the case, it’s still early days for the sequel.
For more, check out GameSpot’s Free Guy review. Alternatively, you can play as Guy’s much more muscular doppelganger in Fortnite or take on the Fortnite Free Guy challenges that are currently active in the game.
