Ryan Reynolds Has A New Franchise

Canadian-American actor, film producer, and entrepreneur, Ryan Reynolds has some considerable screen time in his portfolio. From Hillside and Two Guys and A Girl, the actor propelled to Hollywood heights and the big screen with iconic roles like Van Wilder and comic book antihero Deadpool.

By Jason Collins | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Ryan Reynolds

Canadian-American actor, film producer, and entrepreneur, Ryan Reynolds has some considerable screen time in his portfolio. From Hillside and Two Guys and A Girl, the actor propelled to Hollywood heights and the big screen with iconic roles like Van Wilder and comic book antihero Deadpool. And now, Ryan Reynolds has a new franchise, starting with the upcoming sci-fi movie The Adam Project. That’s right, the plan here is not just one Ryan Reynolds time travel movie, but a whole series of them according to WGTC.

The storyline of The Adam Project revolves around Ryan Reynolds’ character having to travel back in time and team up with his adolescent self to find their father (Mark Ruffalo). Reynolds and Ruffalo aren’t the only prominent actors in the movie; The Adam Project will also star Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, and Catherine Keener.

Jonathan Tropper, one of the movie’s screenwriters, hopes that the film will be a start of a new franchise under the world’s largest streaming service – Netflix Originals. One of the most pressing questions Tropper had during his interviews regarding The Adam Project was handling of the the Ryan Reynolds movie’s time travel plot device.

He explained that while the movie contains time travel elements, the story isn’t primarily of the hardcore sci-fi time travel narrative. “It’s a story about people,” Tropper said, “for me, it was more about the characters and the story of this boy who’s lost father and is trying to come to terms with what that means, through a really interesting adventure.”

Will time travel and Ryan Reynolds be an excellent cinematic pairing? It remains to be seen when the movie hits Netflix in late 2021/early 2022. Unfortunately, the movie-loving audience witnessed some of the shuddering failures of time travel oriented titles, like the Terminator sequels, Time Under Fire, Time Runner, or Future Zone. Sure, we’ve seen successful titles like Interstellar, Back to the Future, and Bill & Ted, which only attest to the talent, knowledge, and wit required to make a successful time travel plot.

Green Lantern
Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern

As for Ryan Reynolds, we already mentioned that he starred in a considerable number of movies, most notably in action and comedy genres. National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Deadpool, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the Woman in Gold were massive hits.

Unfortunately, Ryan Reynolds’ track record for multi-film franchises isn’t as good, but spotty at best. Green Lantern and R.I.P.D. didn’t rank well with the audience, not to mention Wade Wilson in X-Man Origins: Wolverine, being panned as one of the worst interpretations of Merc with the Mouth. At least according to the audience.

Ryan Reynolds always wanted to play the character of Deadpool. Still, Fox did a number on him in X-Man Origins: Wolverine, and he hasn’t passed up the opportunity to mercilessly mock the role in the movie Deadpool. But he also mocked the Green Lantern movie.

Admittedly, Deadpool 2 broke the rule of Ryan Reynolds’ lousy luck with sequels, as it was a major hit among the audience, grossing $785.8 million, which is approximately $3 million more than its predecessor. It warranted the franchise’s continuation, and Deadpool 3 is announced but hasn’t entered pre-production yet. However, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is in its post-production phase, and we can only hope that it will be as good as the first one.

As for Ryan Reynolds’ new franchise, well, its fate largely depends on the viewing figures and critical consensus of The Adam Project. Time travel plot device is either done right or wrong, with no in-betweens. We only hope that The Adam Project is one of the good ones.