‘Free Guy’ gives box office a lift, opening with $28.4M

NEW YORK >> “Free Guy,” an action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as a background character in a videogame, opened better than expected over the weekend, collecting an estimated $28.4 million in ticket sales despite a marketplace challenged by COVID-19.

After a few weeks of declining audiences and underwhelming debuts amid the delta variant surge, “Free Guy” succeeded with an old-school formula: an original, star-fronted movie with good word-of-mouth playing only in theaters.

The movie directed by Shawn Levy was made by the Walt Disney Co., owned 20th Century Fox, with a theatrical release contractually stipulated for the roughly $100 million production.

Playing in 4,165 North American theaters, “Free Guy” was expected to debut around $20 million.