Whether it was great word of mouth or the charm of star Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy’s Free Guy defied the odds to rake in a great $28.4 million in its opening weekend! Going into the weekend, it was projected to open in the mid-to-high teens.
Now the first thing to address is that this is considered a massive win, whereas The Suicide Squad opened just behind that with $26.5M and that is considered a flop. The most obvious explanation is that their budgets were different. The Suicide Squad cost a reported $185M to make, while Free Guy‘s budget was a reported $100-125M. But beyond that, The Suicide Squad is part of a larger franchise and was directed by an established hit-maker, James Gunn. Expectations were simply much higher.
Free Guy was directed by Shawn Levy, best known for his work on Stranger Things, and is an original intellectual property. This could have gone either way and expectations were more modest. As stated, it was expected that this picture would open in the teens, so this is a massive overperformance.
Add to this, Free Guy‘s opening beat that of 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard (another original IP also starring Reynolds), which took in $21.3M pre-pandemic and was considered a big hit.
Free Guy got an A CinemaScore from audiences, an 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a glowing 95% audience score on RT, so that will help draw more viewers over the next week or more. It also helps that Free Guy has a 45-day theatrical window. There had been some speculation that Disney might put this on Disney+, which surely would have hurt this, as it did Cruella and Black Widow. (Jungle Cruise still overperformed.) That means audiences HAVE to show up and pay to see this picture, and this is turning out to be a must-see.
The COVID-19 Delta variant seemed to be hampering box office performance over the past few weeks, but it looks as though audiences are willing to hit up their local multiplex for the right original properties… that they can’t watch from home.
Aside from Free Guy, two more new movies ranked at #2 and #4, sandwiching Jungle Cruise at #3. Don’t Breathe 2, the sequel to the low-budget breakout 2016 thriller made an impressive $10.6M on a $15M budget.
Don’t Breathe 2 received a B CinemaScore (down from a B+ for the first Don’t Breathe). Its RT audience score is a great 87% but its critics’ score is a low 55%. For comparison (and this is shocking), the first Don’t Breathe had a kind of weak 78% audience score and an excellent 88% critics score.
Music biopics have done fantastically in recent years, with hits like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman doing big business. Liesl Tommy’s Respect based on the life of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, had a decent $8.8M opening.
This is an absolute crowd-pleaser, with an A CinemaScore and 94% audience score on RT. Critics are more… er, critical, with it only having a 63% RT score.
Check out the Top Five below:
- Free Guy (20th Century Studios/Disney) – $28.4M
- Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) – $10.6M
- Jungle Cruise (Disney) – $9M
- Respect (MGM/United Artists) – $8.8M
- The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) – $7.75M
As you can see, The Suicide Squad, despite great reactions from critics and audiences, has plummeted in theaters, dropping below last week’s #2, Jungle Cruise and Respect.
Free Guy actually might stay at #1 next weekend, fueled by great word of mouth. Its biggest competition will be the Hugh Jackman sci-fi flick Reminiscence or possibly even PAW Patrol: The Movie. Oh, wait… Reminiscence will be on HBO Max and PAW Patrol will be on Paramount+? Nobody’s going to see them. Congrats, Free Guy on your second weekend at #1!
