Upcoming Ryan Reynolds Movies You Need To Know About
Ryan Reynolds is an actor well-known for both his on-screen roles and his off-screen personality. Championing the Deadpool films as the lead character and producer, Reynolds has definitely gotten a lot more attention these past few years, but he's been acting since 1991 and has starred in a run of popular rom-coms, like Just Friends and The Proposal, before he jumped into superhero movies.
Reynolds began his most important role playing Deadpool's alter-ego Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it would be seven years and a failed Green Lantern reboot before Deadpool finally came to be. Thanks to conveniently leaked footage of Reynolds as the snarky mercenary, Fox relented and finally greenlit the R-rated Deadpool movie, and the rest is history.
Now, Reynolds's name headlines huge studio films, and he has a bunch of exciting projects on the horizon, some filmed and ready to go, while others have only been announced. If you're a fan of Reynolds' humor and charm or his great acting ability (and let's face it: Who isn't?), check out all of his upcoming must-see movies.
Free Guy
Free Guy stars Reynolds as "Guy," a normal, everyday bank teller who gains sentience and discovers he's an NPC in an open-world video game. It's a new and unique concept and takes full advantage of Reynolds' humor and wit. The film has quite a few stars on the cast, including Taika Waititi, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rey Howery, and even the late Alex Trebek, playing himself.
Because of the state of Hollywood right now, the next film up on Reynolds' schedule went from having a release date of July 3, 2020 to December 10, 2020, and as of earlier this month, it has been completely removed from the release schedule for the time being. Given this news, it's unclear when Free Guy will eventually make it to the screens, but fans are still excited. The movie trailer promises a lot of action and fun, but also a positive message, as Reynolds' NPC character finally gains control of his life and destiny. Here's hoping audiences get to see Free Guy sooner rather than later.
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
Following up on his R-rated Deadpool success, Reynolds starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson in 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard, a surprise hit action-comedy. The movie did well at the box office and proved Reynolds and Jackson's great chemistry, so when Millennium Films, who produced The Hitman's Bodyguard, announced that the movie would be getting a sequel, it wasn't much of a surprise.
The upcoming second film, directed by Shawn Levy and entitled The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, will bring into focus a fan-favorite character from the first movie, Salma Hayek's Sonia, the wife of Jackson's Darius. There's no official plot synopsis yet, but it's likely to have the same feel as the first with enemies chasing down Reynolds and Jackson — and now Hayek — and shooting at them, as they fight to stay alive and crack jokes in the process.
So far, the studio has only released the first official poster. Like Free Guy, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was originally scheduled to be released this year, but the movie has been moved back to August 20, 2021.
Red Notice
Another action-comedy, Red Notice is an upcoming Netflix film starring Reynolds, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne Johnson. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the movie is about an Interpol agent, likely Johnson, who is tracking down an art thief and con man, suspected to be Gadot and Reynolds, respectively. Initially, the film was going to be released by Universal with a mid-to-late 2020 release date, but Netflix picked up the rights in July of 2019.
As a Netflix film, Red Notice has a step up on some other movies on this list, as it doesn't have to rely on theaters being open to be released, but that doesn't mean the coronavirus hasn't had an effect on the project. Red Notice initially started production earlier this year but had to stop for several months because of the pandemic, only restarting mid-September (via Deadline). Reynolds announced that he officially wrapped filming at the end of October, thanking the whole quarantine crew with personal video messages. There is no official release date yet.
The Adam Project
Reynolds's next movie just started filming, so it might be awhile before we see The Adam Project onscreen. Re-teaming Reynolds with his Free Guy director Levy, The Adam Project is rumored to be about a pilot (Reynolds) who uses time travel to go back in time and connect with a 13-year-old version of himself, played by newcomer Walker Scobell, to solve a mystery that involves their father. It is being described as an action science-fiction film.
The Adam Project is set up at Netflix, and recent casting announcements have added Mark Ruffalo as Reynolds' physicist father, and Catherine Keener as the movie's villain who steals Ruffalo's character's technology. Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldana have also joined the cast in unknown roles (via Variety). The Adam Project will be the first film produced under Reynolds' The Group Effort Initiative, a diversity initiative that brings in and trains 10 to 20 individuals who are people of color or from marginalized communities to give them real-life experience and opportunities on movie or television productions, all paid for out of Reynolds' pocket.
Based on production scheduling and other factors, it is estimated that a likely release date for The Adam Project is late 2021 at the earliest, but probably sometime in 2022.
Deadpool 3
Arguably Reynolds' most high-profile and highly anticipated movie on this list, Deadpool 3 is now officially greenlit at Disney. It will be the first R-rated film in the MCU, and hints at the possibility of Disney+ creating more adult-targeted media for the platform. Based on reports, the film has brought on its writers, Emmy-winning Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, who've been a huge part of the creative team for the hit animated comedy Bob's Burgers for nearly a decade.
This is the first big news for Deadpool 3, but it's very significant, giving fans an idea of the style of humor that will be a part of the film, and declaring that the movie is moving forward in some way. So far, Reynolds is the only cast member attached, but there are plenty of great characters from the previous two films who fans would love to see return. As for a release date, don't get your hopes up for something soon, as Disney has a lot of movies, Marvel and otherwise, backed up of the release schedule, so it might be a year or two — or possibly longer — before Deadpool 3 comes out.