Disney's 'Free Guy' Leads US Weekend Box Office With $28.4M

“Free Guy,” the science-fiction comedy from The Walt Disney Company’s DIS 20th Century Studios, reigned at the U.S. weekend box office with $28.4 million in ticket sales across 4,164 theaters.

What Happened: “Free Guy” also took in $22.5 million from 41 overseas markets. Unlike other Disney features released this year, “Free Guy” was exclusively distributed in theaters and did not have a simultaneous Disney+ release – the film is slated to go on the streaming service 45 days following its Aug. 13 opening.

Ryan Reynolds, who stars in “Free Guy” as a bank teller who discovers he’s actually a non-player character in an open world video game, tweeted that Disney has already given the green light for a sequel.

“Aaaannnnd after 3 years messaging as an original IP movie, Disney confirmed today they officially want a sequel,” Reynolds tweeted. “Woo hoo!! #irony.”

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What Else Happened: “Free Guy’ outpaced the weekend’s two other new releases: the horror-thriller “Don’t Breathe 2,” a sequel to the 2016 feature from Sony Entertainment’s SONY Sony Pictures Group, placed second with $10.6 million in ticket sales from 3,005 theaters, while Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” starring Jennifer Hudson from United Artists Releasing came in a disappointing fourth in box office earnings with $8.8 million on 3,207 screens.

Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” now in its third week in theaters, took the third place ranking with $9 million from 3,900 screens while last week’s box office champ, “The Suicide Squad” from AT&T’s T Warner Bros., dropped into fifth place with $7.7 million on 4,109 screens. “Jungle Cruise” and “The Suicide Squad” are also being released on Disney+ and HBO Max, respectively.

What Happens Next: The next major films going into national release for the Aug. 20 weekend include Lionsgate’s (NYSE: LGF-A) “The Protégé,” an action-thriller starring Michael Keaton, Maggie Q, and Samuel L. Jackson, and “The Night House,” a psychological horror film from Disney’s Searchlight Pictures, starring Rebecca Hall.

Also opening on Friday is Warner Bros.’ science-fiction thriller “Reminiscence” starring Hugh Jackman and “PAW Patrol: The Movie,” a big-screen adaptation of the popular animated children’s series from ViacomCBS’ VIAC Paramount Pictures.

Defending Depp: Elsewhere in the cinema world, Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival is pushing back against criticism for its decision to present actor Johnny Depp an honorary award. Depp’s professional reputation has been damaged following his unsuccessful libel lawsuit in a British court against the tabloid The Sun, which claimed he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard.

BBC News reported that the nonprofit Women’s Aid Federation criticized the festival’s decision, stating, "When a perpetrator is celebrated, allowing them to continue to garner success and public approval suggests that abuse is acceptable and does not matter."

But the festival issued its own statement that noted “Johnny Depp has not been arrested, charged nor convicted of any form of assault or violence against any woman. We repeat: he has not been charged by any authority in any jurisdiction, nor convicted of any form of violence against women.”

Depp is also scheduled to receive an honorary award at the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival this month. However, the fallout from the domestic abuse allegations against him appears to have dimmed his star value in Hollywood – Warner Bros. dropped the actor from the role of Grunewald in the next film in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise and Depp’s 2020 film “Minimata,” has yet to be seen in the U.S. “Minimata” director Andrew Levitas accused the film’s distributor, MGM, of trying to “bury the film” because of Depp’s presence.

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Photo: Ryan Reynolds in "Free Guy," courtesy of Disney.