Free Guy Is Projected To Make Under $20 Million At The US Box Office This Weekend

Free Guy officially opens in theaters today, August 13, and in early previews, the Ryan Reynolds action-comedy has already made $2.2 million at the US box office. The film is currently predicted to earn around $15 million to $18 million from the 4,165 theaters it'll debut on domestically, while some projections estimate as much as $20 million, according to Variety.

Free Guy's release will be a notable one, as it's the first Disney movie to have a theatrical-only release in almost a year. A spike in coronavirus Delta variant cases could significantly derail its momentum though, as the increase in infections around the US has had a knock-on effect of audiences being warier of heading back into theaters.

The Suicide Squad is a prime example of this, as last week's star-studded DC superhero film only managed to earn $26 million in its first weekend, but it's worth noting that it also had a same-day release on HBO Max.

Free Guy will be in theaters for 45 days before its window of exclusivity ends and it's potentially made available on Disney+ or another streaming service. Free Guy is estimated to have cost between $100 million and $125 million to produce, and the general rule of thumb with films is that with marketing costs included, a movie generally needs to double its production budget to be considered profitable.

Free Guy stars Reynolds as Guy, a non-playable character in the open-world game Free City, who becomes self-aware and sets out on a quest to save his digital city from a character played by Taika Waititi, with the help of the game's programmers who are played by Jodie Comer and Joe Keery.

If you want to see if the film is worth venturing into a cinema for, you can check out our Free Guy review. Alternatively, you can play as Guy's much more muscular doppelganger in Fortnite or take on the Fortnite Free Guy challenges that are currently active in the game.