A Ryan Reynolds Movie Is Climbing The Charts On Streaming
A Ryan Reynolds comedy is slowly but surely gaining steam on streaming.
This article is more than 2 years old
While Ryan Reynolds’ The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard continues to shine in movie theaters, another recent Reynolds film is now beginning to make waves on the Hulu streaming platform, coming in at #9. What’s impressive about this feat for Reynolds is that you don’t even see him in this film.
The Croods: A New Age is the animated sequel that sees Ryan Reynolds return as the voice of Guy (not to be confused with his upcoming movie, Free Guy). Also returning to the vocal cast is Nicolas Cage as Grug, Emma Stone as Eep, Catherine Keener as Ugga, Clark Duke as Thunk, and Cloris Leachman (in one of her final performances before she sadly passed away at the age of 94) as Gran. Joining the cast are Peter Dinklage as Phil Betterman, Leslie Mann as Hope Betterman, and Kelly Marie Tran as Dawn Betterman.
When we first see Guy, it is him as a child and we discover how his parents die when Guy was young. As they are perishing in tar, they tell Guy to go find his “tomorrow.” On his long journey to his “tomorrow”, he meets up with a young Belt (Guy’s pet sloth) and the two take the journey together.
We then catch up with the Croods as they continue to search for a place to call home. Their search comes with much danger as they fight off various creatures who’d like to make them a meal.
During their hunt for a home, Grug notices Guy and Eep becoming closer and closer, something that doesn’t sit well with him. He fears that Guy will take his daughter away from their pack. His fears rise when Guy tells Eep that they should go and find their own “tomorrow.”
But things for the Croods change when Grug discovers a giant wall, bringing everyone to it. The pack gets caught in a net, leading them to the other side of the wall and the Betterman’s, a couple who are more advanced in every way, shape, and form than the Croods.
Shortly after being invited in, the Croods and Guy find out that the Betterman’s, Phil and Hope, actually knew Guy’s parents before they died. Guy also finds out that he knew their daughter, Dawn, who becomes immediate friends with Eep.
It’s not long before the two family’s differences are on full display. The Betterman’s are more advanced, and they like to prove that point any chance they get, visibly condescending toward the Croods. The Betterman’s feel that Guy would be better off with them instead of the Croods, so they devise a plan to separate Guy and the Croods.
Their plans work, that is until Eep discovers that Dawn has never left her home. Eep convinces Dawn to go with her on a joyride that ends badly for Dawn when she gets stung by a bee. The two return and Guy, who is now buying into what the Betterman’s are selling, calls out Eep for her recklessness, then calls her a “cave girl.”
Everyone seems to be getting what they want as the families begin to go their separate ways. But the Punch Monkeys arrive, unhappy that the bananas left for them were eaten, so they take Grug, Phil, and Guy as hostages. Someone needs to answer for the bananas and Grug and Phil are pitted against each other to see who will pay for the crime.
Naturally, we’re not going to spoil the fun, but we will say this, Guy finally realizes that his “tomorrow” is not a place, but a person.
While the first Croods, which premiered in 2013, was made for between $135-175 million and brought home over $587 million, this second Croods movie was made for much less, at $65 million. Though the sequel is, critically speaking, a better film, to date it has only seen a $175 million return. Of course, there is one good reason for this. COVID.
The Croods: A New Age was released during the pandemic shut down when most of the movie theaters had still not come back online. This greatly affected the box office numbers. To make matters worse, the film didn’t get its UK release until July 16, 2021, so box office numbers should continue to rise.
Since Ryan Reynolds first voiced Guy back in 2013, his career has taken off, not that he wasn’t doing too bad prior to 2013. Reynolds’s biggest claim to fame came when he was allowed a redo on Wade Wilson, making up for the disaster that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
In 2016, Reynolds took on Deadpool to much acclaim. He played Wade Wilson the way Wilson was meant to be played, with as much snark as Reynolds could muster. It was a winning combination that saw Reynolds return two years later for Deadpool 2.
Since that time, Reynolds has played Deadpool for numerous fun bits to include a recent spin as Deadpool opposite Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi) from Thor: Ragnarok as the two react to the trailer for Reynold’s upcoming movie Free Guy. It’s classic Reynolds and Waititi.
Along with Free Guy, which finally releases on August 13, 2021, Ryan Reynolds remains a busy man. He has Red Notice (with Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot) on deck and then a number of projects to include The Adam Project, Spirited, and Futha Mucka, an animated series co-starring king futha muka himself, Samuel L. Jackson. There is also Deadpool 3 somewhere out there.
You can catch Ryan Reynolds in The Croods: A New Age on Hulu.
