The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, directed by Patrick Hughes, stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard has lots of competition, and I have to wonder if this is one of those movies that's going to get lost in a very busy summer season. The first one benefited because there was nothing else around it, and it couldn't get lost in the fray. In The Heights is coming out five days before this one is dropping, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It the weekend before that, and not long after it is released, it has to contend with F9 coming out June 25th.
This next movie is releasing into a much busier time of year. Jackson (left) as 'Darius Kincaid' and Ryan Reynolds (right) as 'Michael Bruce' in THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD. Jackson (right) as 'Darius Kincaid in THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD. Ryan Reynolds (left) as 'Michael Bruce,' Salma Hayek as 'Sonia Kincaid,' and Samuel L. Jackson as 'Darius Kincaid,' Antonio Banderas as 'Aristotle Papadopolous,' Salma Hayek as 'Sonia Kincaid,' and Ryan Reynolds as 'Michael Bruce' in THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD. This new trailer and poster show that Hayek is clearly having a ton of fun playing this character. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard turns our focus to Salma Hayek's Sonia who stole the movie whenever she appeared on screen. However, it did make $176 million on a $30-$69 million budget, so a sequel was greenlit.
Its second week at number one was one of the lowest box office since September 2001. So The Hitman's Bodyguard was one of the last movies to come out in 2017, and for two straight weeks, there wasn't much to compete with it. The late summer doesn't usually have a lot of movies coming out because the families are going back to school, but it's too early to release Oscar bait because the average Academy voter is approximately 102 years old and would forget it if you release your Oscar-bait movie before August. August, in the pre-COVID days anyway, was usually a dead zone when it comes to movies. The Hitman's Bodyguard is the perfect example of a movie that is only pretty good becoming a hit because it was released at the right time.