As video games have grown and open-world games like Grand Theft Auto have become more popular, the number of NPCs, or the background characters who add depth and context, have become more prevalent. But no matter what, they’re never going to be integral to the main quest. Well, what if one of those NPCs figures out what’s going on and decides to take an active role in controlling his destiny? Enter: Free Guy.
Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds as an NPC, a boring ol’ bank teller in a violent open-world video game. That is until he discovers the truth about his so-called life and decides to do something about it. The film was originally due to open over the summer, but was disrupted by the pandemic. Now it has a date set for December, but…well, they’re no so sure about that.
At least they’re having fun with the tentative nature of any release date nowadays. I mean, No Time to Die can’t hold down a date to save 007’s life. Free Guy is also one of the last remaining 20th Century Fox flicks that made the move over to Disney, and the hope is it’ll do better than some of the other ones. Looking at you, New Mutants.
Directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Lil Rel Howery, Free Guy maybe opens on December 11th. We’ll see. With virtually all of the biggest action flicks gone, Disney will want to position this as a major theatrical event.
SYNOPSIS: In “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi, “Free Guy” is directed by Shawn Levy from a story by Matt Lieberman and a screenplay by Lieberman and Zak Penn. The film is produced by Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Adam Kolbrenner with Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, George Dewey, Dan Levine, and Michael Riley McGrath serving as executive producers.
