Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Movie Release Date Pushed

BookTok fans will have to wait several more months to see the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It End With Us.

Starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, the film will now premiere in theaters on June 21, 2024. Baldoni, who directs and stars as Ryle Kincaid, previously announced in July 2023 that the movie would be released on February 9.

Baldoni also serves as an executive producer on the project through his production company, Wayfarer Studios, along with Hoover, 44, and Lively, who portrays protagonist Lily Bloom. The cast also includes Brandon Sklenar as Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan, Jenny Slate as Ryle’s sister, Allysa, and Hasan Minhaj as Allysa’s husband, Marshall.

“Lily Bloom thinks she’s found the love of her life in Ryle Kincaid,” reads a description of the film shared via Wayfarer Studios’ website. “However, after a troubling incident of abuse reminds her of her dark past, she must decide if love alone can carry her marriage through. Further complicating things is the return of her first love into her life: a man who she took in many years prior when he was homeless.”

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The reasoning behind the film’s release date delay is likely due to the recent Hollywood strikes. The cast and crew paused production in June 2023 after producers failed to persuade the WGA to allow filming to continue. (The WGA strike ended in September 2023, followed by SAG-AFTRA two months later.)

The movie, based on the 2016 book of the same name, has faced some backlash based on casting and photos from the set. In the book, Lily and Ryle are supposed to be 23 and 30 years old, respectively, while Lively and Baldoni are 36 and 39 in real life.

Hoover defended the age difference in a June 2023 interview with Today, explaining that she wrote the character of Ryle, who is a neurosurgeon, without realizing the many years it takes to become a doctor.

“As an author, we make mistakes,” she told Jenna Bush Hager. “There’s no 28-year-old neurosurgeons, you know? You go to school for 15 years. And so to make corrections to what I messed up in the book, we aged the characters up somewhat.”

Hoover went on to note that she loved the “discourse surrounding the film,” adding, “I think that people are going to be very pleased. I’m very pleased.”

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Fans of the novel have also criticized the costume and hair and makeup design for Lily. “How do you make Blake Lively, known Hot Person, look FRUMPY,” one person wrote via X in May 2023. “Like I know NOTHING about It Ends With Us but I saw these pics and thought her character was a quirky single mom who’s not supposed to be cute. LIKE WHAT IS THAT OUTFIT AND PARTY CITY WIG.”

During the aforementioned Today interview, Hoover also addressed the fashion discourse. “I don’t remember describing outfits at all. I don’t care what they have on,” Hoover said. “In my head, it’s about the conversation they’re having and the story. It’s the same way in the movie. You’ve seen a couple of outfits that are completely out of context. I’m not worried about it.”