Ryan Reynolds & John Krasinski Original Movie ‘IF’ Shaping Up For $40M Opening – Box Office Early Look

Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Paramount’s all-audience movie IF, starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by John Krasinski, is heading for a $40M-plus opening on May 17 — which is very good for a non-holiday in May and for an original movie.

Krasinski produced, directed and wrote IF.

More from Deadline

The PG movie is hot with parents, kids and the 17-34 crowd, especially female. IF arrived on three-week pre-release tracking with a very-high 16 “unaided” — that’s the category where those polled express interest in a movie without being prompted. That’s higher than what DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4 arrived on tracking with; that fourthquel debuted to $57.9M.

Comps are tricky for IF: Hello?! When was the last PG-rated live-action conceived tentpole based on an original property? There was the Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson 2008 dog romance Marley & Me, which debuted to $36.3M, but that doesn’t count. There also was 2004’s Nicolas Cage action title National Treasure ,which debuted to $35.1M. Remember, Reynolds has been great at launching original, franchise-potential fare before: He had Free Guy as we were coming out of Covid, which opened to $28.3M and legged out to $121.6M.

Hands down, it’ll be another No. 1 win for the Brian Robbins-run Paramount, which has already delivered Mean Girls ($28.6M opening) and Bob Marley: One Love ($51.5M opening) as the Melrose Lot remains in exclusive talks with Skydance/Red Bird for potential takeover.

RELATED: Skydance Still In Pole Position For Paramount As Two Hash Out Terms; Sony and Apollo Waiting In The Wings

Also hitting three-week in advance tracking this AM is Focus Features’ Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, which is eyeing $6M-$8M, the movie already having bagged $15M-plus in its offshore release, as well as Lionsgate’s horror movie The Strangers: Chapter One from filmmaker Renny Harlin, and starring Riverdale‘s Madelaine Petsch which has a swing from $6M-$10M in its 3-day.

The key to success for all these movies are there multiples as they play into the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.