Ryan Reynolds, justifiably or otherwise, once had a reputation for being a Hollywood slacker. However, his days of rom-com fodder are long gone, as this look at his upcoming movies will demonstrate. Comedy fodder perhaps, but no more glorified professional vacations with Sandra Bullock. Stardom comes with a heavy price, you know.
Free Guy is the first of his new movies to be released, making a long-awaited debut on December 11th. The comedy about a video game character who becomes self-aware has suffered a lengthy delay at the hands of the coronavirus and it feels like we’ve been talking about it for a very long time. Fingers crossed it’ll be worth the wait.
Not content to be pigeonholed, Reynolds will also be lending his voice to family-friendly animation The Croods 2, where he’ll reprise the role of caveman Guy from the previous film. That’s out on December 23rd.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, meanwhile, arrives on August 20th, 2021. Aside from having the most ungainly title since The Crimes of Grindelwald, the action sequel will reunite Reynolds with Samuel L. Jackson for another round of violent thrills.
If there’s one genre the star does appear to identify strongly with, it’s action-comedy. I mean, Deadpool was an action-comedy and it gave him one of his most successful outings yet, so it’s understandable. On that note, Netflix’s blockbuster Red Notice is reportedly following the same formula. Alongside Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, Reynolds will be playing a brilliant conman. No word on a release date yet.
Now, there’s some cruel irony that the two films fans are most excited for are also the two furthest from release. Deadpool 3 and Detective Pikachu 2 are still in their early developmental stages, so it’ll be a while yet before we see either. In particular, though, it’ll be fascinating to watch how Disney handles Reynolds’ most iconic character.
Other projects in the works include an untitled time travel movie (also being produced by Netflix), a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, a reboot of Clue and Everyday Parenting Tips, which will see him playing “a dad dealing with the everyday challenges of family and raising kids made all the most difficult by an ongoing Great Monster Uprising.”
Caught your breath yet? It’s Ryan Reynolds overload.
