After Disney plopped its Ryan Reynolds action comedy Free Guy from 20th Century Studios on August 13, a week before Lionsgate’s sequel The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard which also stars Reynolds, it stood to reason the latter would move. The new date for the Reynolds-Samuel L. Jackson sequel, which also stars Salma Hayek, is June 16.
The announcement was made Monday by Ron Schwartz, Lionsgate’s president of worldwide distribution. The sequel, on its new date, arrives the weekend after Warner Bros/HBO Max’s feature musical In the Heights, and the weekend prior to Universal’s F9 on June 25. Also opening the weekend of June 16-18 is Focus Features’ Edgar Wright-directed feature documentary The Sparks Brothers.
Schwartz said, “This is the kind of summer action film that delivers even more comedy and more thrilling action than the first film – and it’s perfect for fans new to the franchise as well. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is what summer moviegoing is all about – great, crowd-pleasing entertainment.”
The first movie grossed $176.6 million worldwide in August 2017.
The Millennium Media production is directed by Patrick Hughes from a screenplay by Tom O’Connor and Phillip Murphy & Brandon Murphy with a story by O’Connor. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is produced by Matt O’Toole, Les Weldon and Yariv Lerner. Executive producers are Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Matthew Milam, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Heidi Jo Markel, Zygi Kamasa, Peter Possne and Mark Gill.