Anyone following along on the journey of Free Guy knows that a huge part of its appeal has been its originality. But now, Ryan Reynolds has confirmed Free Guy has begun the move into franchise territory. Disney officially wants a sequel to the hit film.
Aaaannnnd after 3 years messaging #FreeGuy as an original IP movie, Disney confirmed today they officially want a sequel. Woo hoo!! #irony pic.twitter.com/85mMxW4owx
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 14, 2021
Of course, a sequel of a movie can no longer be considered purely “original.” But it remains true that Free Guy itself was, and this was an important part of its inception. Before its release, Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy spoke to reporters visiting the Free Guy set in Boston. The first question for them—someone asking what the movie’s about—led to an impromptu Vaudeville bit. “Well, I have to tell you, I kind of love that most of you don’t know enough about this movie,” said Levy, the director, with a smile, “Because it’s the sign of one of the unique things about this movie, which is it’s an actual new movie.”
That answer kicked off a rapid-fire back and forth exchange with his star, Ryan Reynolds.
“A new movie, Shawn?” Reynolds asked.
“Yes. A new movie.”
“What’s it based upon?”
“It’s based on fresh ideas.”
“Wait. No.”
“Yes. I tell you.”
“An existing IP of some sort? A comic book?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“A novel?”
“No prior branding.”
“Gross.”
“Yeah, gross,” Levy concludes.
And this is why they were so excited on this rainy June day in 2019. They were shooting a big-budget action-comedy that wasn’t beholden to anything else. It’s rare for the industry. And it’s something Disney doesn’t often do anymore. But Levy and Reynolds were making a big bet that original ideas can still be successful. But, of course, in the world of modern cinema, that kind of opportunity also came with a huge risk.
“To be making a tent pole—no IP, no prior branding, not a small budget movie—in 2019 at Disney is daunting, but also pretty exciting,” said Levy. We should note here the movie began at Fox before their merger. Disney, home of well-established properties like Star Wars, Marvel, and live-action remakes of classic animated films, was excited to be doing something different, even if this was almost uncharted waters at the time.
Levy recounted the Mouse House’s reaction to the project. “They’re like, ‘We haven’t gotten to do one of these—-I mean, I can’t even name it, it’s at least 10 years. I can’t remember; it’s rare that anyone does it anymore.'” In this case, “it” is Free Guy, a story about a character who suddenly realizes he’s actually a background player in an open-world video game. His life is full of bank robberies, helicopter crashes, and explosions. That NPC (non-playable character), named Guy and played by Reynolds, then “decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself,” Levy said. It’s a premise that means they can do almost anything they want since a lot of the film takes place in a digital world.
Disney
But while the now-released movie is a new concept, it has some clear inspirations behind it—some more obvious than others. The avatars in the game look and dress more like characters in Fortnite. (Get ready to see some avatar dance moves too.) And as Levy said, the movie “certainly” has “shades of GTA (Grand Theft Auto) and other games of that ilk.” Comparisons to popular video game franchises will be inevitable. But no one should watch the movie thinking they’re watching a re-creation of them.
“[GTA] was a big part of our research for this movie, but as someone who was once attached to Minecraft, once attached to Uncharted, I’m thrilled I’m making a movie about video games that is not beholden to any video game,” Levy stressed. “To be very, very clear, this is in no way a literal adaptation of anything that’s existed.”
Alan Markfield/Disney
Beyond video games, the director also said the movie has elements of The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and, Ready Player One. Unlike Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, though, which was also split between the real world and a digital realm, Free Guy is one hundred percent photo-real. You won’t see a digitally recreated Reynolds in the fictional Free City game where he lives. This is another way the movie is trying to do something new. To make it look as real as possible, the film also relies on practical effects as much as it can. For example, when you see a character on fire, those are real flames.
All of this should help build a world no one has ever seen before. Ultimately that’s what attracted Reynolds to the movie in the first place. “It’s just so fun to do something new. Something that is quite literally based on absolutely nothing,” Reynolds explains. “So I love the process of appointing an audience with this new property or this new idea. And it’s big, the scale is big. And I think it’s appealing to a huge audience.”
Disney
They made a huge bet that it will be appealing. And it was a wager that could have consequences for the whole industry. If Free Guy hadn’t been a hit, it might have prevented other original ideas from getting a greenlight. Instead, however, its success could encourage Hollywood to start to break free (guy) of its reliance on established IPs.
Of course, the irony is that since this original, big-budget movie did prove to be a smash, it is now becoming the very thing it’s not. Even in 2019, Levy hoped, that with some luck, they were creating a new franchise. And now we know they very well may be doing exactly that.
Originally published on September 9, 2020, and updated on August 16, 2021.
Featured Image: Disney
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