Free Guy from Disney/20th Century Studios is the sixth Hollywood film to reach the $300M milestone this year on Monday. The Ryan Reynolds-starring film has so far made a total of $302.4 million globally, including $108.8 million domestically and $193.6 million internationally.
Free Guy reach the $300M milestone
The romantic comedy with video game influences from filmmaker Shawn Levy is the first Hollywood original IP film to gross $300M in 2021 and only the second, after Tenet, to do it during the pandemic. Its performance is therefore particularly noteworthy, especially given that its debut in mid-August coincided with local worries over the Delta variant and ongoing Covid limitations and/or closures in offshore markets.
Free Guy theatrical performance
Undoubtedly, China, where Free Guy debuted on August 27 as the first big studio film to hit the market following the summer blackout, contributed to the film’s overall success. It has made $89 million to date, and Maoyan now expects it to make RMB 633 million ($98 million), making it the third-best earning Hollywood film in the market since theaters returned in July 2020.
The UK ($21.2M), Russia ($10.8M), France ($5.2M), Saudi Arabia ($4.7M), Germany ($4.6M), Japan ($4.5M), Australia ($4.3M), Spain ($3.3M), and Mexico ($3.3M) are the other countries with the highest offshore data according to Free Guy.
Disney made a comeback to the theatrical-window format with the initial release of Free Guy in mid-August. The movie was created by the 20th Century Fox executives before the epidemic and was given to Disney when the studio was acquired. Disney deserves kudos for believing in the movie and keeping it on-demand during the epidemic rather than streaming it.
