'IF', Starring Ryan Reynolds, Sets Very Real Paramount+ Premiere Following Box Office Rebound
'IF', Starring Ryan Reynolds, Sets Very Real Paramount+ Premiere Following Box Office Rebound
It’s far from a despicable or quiet place in the multiverse
You don’t have to imagine friends to watch a movie, but this is full of them. Paramount Pictures’s John Krasinski-directed, Ryan Reynolds-starring imaginary friend film IF is heading to Paramount+ tomorrow, July 9 in the United States and Canada. Further international rollout will be announced later (though probably not covered here). The film is already being promoted on the home page carousel with its page ready.
IF opened on May 17 in the United States. A July 9 streaming debut means it lasted about 54 days before reaching streaming. That’s an impressive restraint of 6-9 days versus Paramount’s other family films which tend to stick strictly to the 45 day window the just-sold studio had become fond of in the streamer’s pandemic-born/relaunched days. The studio’s most recent prior major release, the biopic Bob Marley: One Love, waited until the Friday of the same week to land. IF debuted atop the domestic box office but at just $33 million for a family film was considered to have underperformed and has since grossed more than $185 million worldwide, undergoing a rebound. Listings for IF’s MGM+ premiere this Friday at 8 PM were found by WhenToStream on June 30, meaning the streaming arrival had to be imminent, and so it was.
Krasinski writes, directs and stars in the film which poses the question: Ever wonder where your imaginary friends go when they’re no longer in your brain? Bea, played by Cailey Fleming has a hospitalized dad played by Krasinski and discovers she can see imaginary friends, abbreviated as IFs. So can her neighbor, Cal, played by Reynolds, who thus becomes a close ally. She embarks on a magical journey to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids, before they disappear.
Steve Carell voices the large purple creature named Blue, named such due to colorblindness. The cast also features Fiona Shaw as Bea’s grandmother Margaret, Bobby Moynihan as Blue’s creator Jeremy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Blossom a butterfly-like IF with rubber hose-style movement, Keegan-Michael Key as Slime, Emily Blunt as Unicorn, Matt Damon as Flower, Maya Rudolph as Alligator, Jon Stewart as Robot, Sam Rockwell as the superhero IF Guardian Dog, Sebastian Maniscalco as Magician Mouse, Christopher Meloni as the detective IF Cosmo, Richard Jenkins as humanoid IF Art Teacher, Awkwafina as Bubbles the bubble cluster IF, and Louis Gossett Jr. in his final role as Lewis the Bear.
Krasinski produces through his company Sunday Night, along with Reynolds and his banner Maximum Effort. Also producing are Allyson Seeger, and Andrew Form. Film is executive produced by John J. Kelly, George Dewey and Kimberly Nelson LoCascio with music by Michael Giacchino.
Source: Deadline