As movie theaters all over the world spring back up to life, Ryan Reynolds is kindly reminding everyone that he too has an upcoming video game movie with the latest Free Guy trailer showing even more of the open-world hidden inside Free City.
Like so many other films, Free Guy was originally scheduled to be a summer release last year. However, the pandemic ultimately pushed that date back several times to August 13, although it still remains a theatrical exclusive unlike Cruella or Black Widow. Since then, Reynolds has had plenty of time to work on other projects, and even his co-star villain Taika Waititi wrapped up filming Thor: Love and Thunder while also picking up a new Star Wars gig for the future.
Just like in previous trailers, Free Guy will see audiences dive deep into the life of video game NPC “Guy,” who suddenly finds himself getting a noticeable character upgrade amid the impending doom of his Grand Theft Auto style life when plans for the game to be put offline officially start to unfold. As part of his video game reckoning, Guy finally seems to get a hold of exactly what his own game mortality means right before he gets hit by a car, and there's also some shape-shifting building similar to Control's Oldest House.
Reynolds and Waititi are joined by Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudakar, as well several cameo appearances from noted streaming icons like Pokimane and Ninja. Free Guy also features what will be the last on-screen appearance from legendary Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, who passed away last year, and will also include more traditional movie star cameos from Hugh Jackman, Dwayne Johnson, Tina Fey, and A Quiet Place's John Krasinski.
On the face of it, Free Guy is at least exempt from the huge responsibility that is honoring famed video game source material like Sonic The Hedgehog or what the Castlevania anime had to do, so the screenwriters and director Shawn Levy surely must have had a blast incorporating gaming references from classic titles or even more modern ones like Fortnite and Pokemon Go.
With Grand Theft Auto 6 far from being announced by Rockstar, Free Guy will come as a nice reminder of why everyone loves these kinds of games so much, especially with a GTA-worthy protagonist like Reynolds. Worst case scenario, things can only go up from Monster Hunter as far as video game movies are concerned.
Free Guy is scheduled for release on August 11, 2021.
Source: 20th Century Studios|YouTube