The Business
Director Shawn Levy on the ups and downs of making ‘Free Guy’
Director and producer Shawn Levy’s new movie “Free Guy” — a big-budget original starring Ryan Reynolds as a video game character — had its release date pushed three times because of the pandemic. The film is finally opening exclusively in theaters.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenFilmmaker Shawn Levy’s new movie “Free Guy” — a big-budget original starring Ryan Reynolds as a video game character — is finally opening exclusively in theaters after having its release date pushed three times because of the pandemic. But heading into opening weekend, Levy wasn’t sure if people would go.
“I have to confess, I don’t know,” Levy says. “I don’t know what the reaction will be to going to theaters, and going to theaters for a new movie. I’d like to believe there’s an audience and an appetite for originality and non-franchise sequels, but I don’t know.”
The producer-director behind hits including the “Night at the Museum” franchise and Netflix’s “Stranger Things” tells us about the ups and downs of making “Free Guy,” and why he still wants studios to greenlight big movies that aren’t a part of a franchise, even if he isn’t sure there will be theaters to show them in.
In this episode
2 storiesDisney+ reaches new subscriber highs, ‘Jeopardy!’ faces new host debacle
In a recent earnings call, Disney reported its streaming service now has 116 million subscribers, a number above what most analysts were predicting.
Read the story8 min‘Free Guy’ director Shawn Levy hopes there’s still an ‘appetite for originality’
The new movie “Free Guy” stars Ryan Reynolds as a bank worker named Guy who’s perpetually in good spirits while doing his job — even as his bank gets robbed at the same time every day.
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