Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy Headed to $26 Million Opening Weekend

Free Guy is tracking for a big weekend at the box office with projections currently hovering around $26 million. Deadline reports that Disney's latest release stands a good chance of beating the modest targets for the Fox film. In the realm of being a new property, this has to be seen as a massive win for the Ryan Reynolds film. This isn't The Avengers or a remake of a beloved 90s animation movie. Director Shawn Levy has been vocally boosting the project and all of that chatter seems to have paid off. Also of note might be the social media presence the film has. (A lot of people rolled their eyes at word that influencers and streamers would be in Free Guy, but it appears that might have been a smart decision.)

Disney also might have made the right bets when it came to aligning with Reynolds' star power when the Fox acquisition went through. A lot of the projects on the docket for that studio fell by the wayside, but Free Guy was one of those movies that got mentioned during official Disney events and such. They even let Deadpool crossover with the MCU in marketing material. Something that could have been saved for a big crowd-pleasing moment in a feature film.

ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis recently talked to Levy about Free Guy, and he was more than complimentary of his star. Reynolds is the engine that makes this entire thing go. It should come as no shock that any story that gets told about this project would see him front and center.

"Yeah. The truth is, as I said, if you're lucky enough to direct Ryan Reynolds in a starring role, you get all these secret weapons in addition. And the truth is that Ryan has very quirky, weird, inspired musical taste," Levy said. "So whether it was the Mariah Carey song or make your own kind of music, like a deep cut from the '50s or '60s, Ryan sometimes will go, 'Is this a weird idea or should we try this song?' And what I've learned with Ryan is don't say no, at least give it a try because eight out of 10 times, it's going to be amazing, and it's going to make it into the movie."

Have you seen Free Guy yet? What did you think? Let us know down in the comments!