'Barbie' Has Changed the Future of 'Free Guy 2'
The Big Picture
- Free Guy was a commercial and financial success, but a sequel is not guaranteed due to the unexpected impact of Greta Gerwig's Barbie and the need for the sequel to be different.
- The love for Free Guy has been thrilling for Ryan Reynolds and the director, and they are developing a sequel, but it must stand out from the first movie and other films, considering the impact of Barbie .
- Free Guy tells the story of an ordinary bank teller who discovers he is a character in a video game and goes on a transformative journey.
Free Guy was a smash hit for Disney and 20th Century Studios when it was released in 2021. A starring vehicle for Ryan Reynolds, it saw the Canadian star at his most Ryan Reynolds. Cheeky, optimistic and charismatic, in a movie designed to be enjoyed by everyone. The film was also a box office success and, given the nature of film these days, a financial success usually guarantees a sequel. But according to the movie's director Shawn Levy, the prospects of a sequel are anything but guaranteed, thanks to an unlikely antagonist—Barbie.
Free Guy grossed $331.5 million upon its release, off a budget of between $100 - $125 million. It was also scheduled to be released in 2020, before world events took precedence and the movie was released a year later while theaters were still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, so the fact the film made such a profit was hugely heartening, but despite that, Levy believes a sequel is not inevitable.
During an interview at Collider’s TIFF media studio at the Cinema Center at MARBL for his Netflix limited-series All the Light We Cannot See, , Levy told Collider's Steve Weintraub that, while Free Guy was a commercial success and a fun experience for everyone involved, the success of Greta Gerwig's film has caused some unforeseen headaches when it came to a follow-up for the movie, which broadly touched upon similar themes to Levy's film from two years prior.
"I think it is definitely not assured. We love Free Guy and the love for Free Guy that has kind of resonated in aftershocks, if you will, in the last couple of years. That's been thrilling to Ryan [Reynolds] and I. We are developing a sequel, but the truth is that you now have Barbie that has obviously left a mark about a character in a fictional world who comes to self-awareness. So, we're only gonna make Free Guy 2 if it's different than the first movie and if it's different from other movies."
What was 'Free Guy' about?
Free Guy follows the journey of an ordinary bank teller named Guy, who stumbles upon the startling revelation that he exists as a non-player character within a vast multiplayer online game. As he joins forces with a real-world player, their mission becomes uncovering proof that the CEO of a gaming corporation has illicitly appropriated the source code of the player's beloved game. Throughout this adventure, Guy undergoes a profound transformation, awakening to self-awareness and experiencing a remarkable evolution.
Look for our full conversation about All the Light We Cannot See soon.
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