Ryan Reynolds Is In a Videogame Run Amok in the New Trailer for Free Guy

Among the many pushed-back release dates of what were meant to be tentpole blockbusters of the 2020 summer movie season, one of the most anticipated was Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy. The film sees Deadpool himself playing a videogame NPC—that’s a “non-player character,” to the uninitiated—who gains awareness that he exists within a videogame world, and then attempts to improve his station in life. Judging from the newly released trailer below, the outside world eventually becomes aware of the sentient NPC known as “Blue Shirt Guy,” making him into something of a global sensation.

This is clearly a slam-bang action movie, with more than a passing resemblance perhaps to Spielberg’s Ready Player One, except with less of a focus on nostalgia and more of the raunchy humor one associated with Reynolds. It can boast a very cool supporting cast, from Jodie Comer and Joe Keery to Lil Rel Howery and none other than Taika Waititi in what appears to be the antagonist role. That’s a long-awaited reunion, as Reynolds and Waititi actually appeared together in the critically savaged Green Lantern in 2011.

Free Guy began its development at 20th Century Fox before that company was absorbed by Disney, but it was one of the few films to be put back into production afterward rather than being summarily cut from the schedule. It was initially scheduled for a high-profile July 3, 2020 release, but the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately forced a postponement to the current date: Dec. 11, 2020. That would make it one of a handful of films still hoping for a major debut in physical theaters during the holiday season—we’ll see if theaters in locales such as New York and L.A. are actually open at that time.

In the meantime, check out the action-packed trailer for Free Guy below.