For Ryan Reynolds, the road to fame and fortune seemingly goes through Amityville.
He survived four seasons on Two Men, a Girl and Pizza Place, a sitcom as moldy as a week-old pie plucked out of a garbage can. Still, the star of The Amityville Horror remake has yet to win over movie audiences, despite receiving more chances to launch a film career than Hollywood gave Friends‘ David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc.
The sharp-tongued funnyman’s endured one failure after another, from the Animal House-like antics of National Lampoon’s Van Wilder to the uninspired reworking of The In-Laws. He’s also seen many of his comedies debut either on DVD (Buying the Cow, Coming Soon) or basic cable (School of Life).
So Reynolds is now trying to reinvent himself as a man of action à la Bruce Willis. Something drastic needed to be done, or he’ll be known forever as Mr. Alanis Morissette after he exchanges vows with the Jagged Little Pill popper.
But he’s off to a shaky start
The heist yarn Foolproof bypassed U.S. theaters after bombing in Reynolds‘ native Canada. He buffed up for Blade: Trinity, but the third entry in the series proved as dour as Wesley Snipes‘ vampire slayer. Blade: Trinity‘s anemic performance potentially killed a Nightstalkers spin-off that would have chronicled the further adventures of Reynolds‘ wisecracking Hannibal King.
Reynolds instead is following the path taken by his Blade: Trinity cohort Jessica Biel, who screamed up a storm in the Michael Bay-produced reworking of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now Bay‘s out to exploit another famous 1970s-era gore fest, The Amityville Horror, and Reynolds is the poor sap trapped in the Long Island hell house.
No one asked for an Amityville Horror remake. But this remake offers Reynolds his first chance to demonstrate he can do more than charm Tara Reid out of her panties or fire off a sarcastic aside while dispatching the undead.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre carved up $80.5 million, and if The Amityville Horror enjoys similar success, Reynolds may finally get his wish to don bright red tights for a film based on D.C. superhero The Flash. He’s already brought to life Marvel’s Hannibal King, so it requires no stretch of the imagination to see him as the fleet-footed crime fighter.
The Flash, though, isn’t a household name like Batman and Superman. Unless Reynolds scores with The Amityville Horror and his upcoming slate of comedies, casting an unproven box office commodity as a lesser-known comic-book character may not result in the next superhero franchise. Even Ben Affleck, then at the peak of his popularity, couldn’t achieve Spider-Man-like success with Daredevil.
The Flash or no The Flash, Reynolds still wants to amuse audiences. No doubt studio executives felt comfortable taking another gamble on the quick-with-a-quip Reynolds after he lent some much-needed levity to the cheerless Blade: Trinity.
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Ryan Reynolds at the Box Office | |
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| 1. Blade: Trinity $52.4M | |||
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| 2. National Lampoon’s Van Wilder $21.3M | |||
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| 3. The In-Laws $20.4M | |||
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First up is Waiting, with Reynolds serving laughs while toiling at a chain restaurant. But it’s been a long wait for Waiting: it wrapped a year ago and won’t open until Oct. 7. That doesn’t inspire much confidence that Waiting is the food industry equivalent of Clerks.
Clearly hopes are high for Just Friends–pairing Reynolds and Amy Smart as former lovers trying to stay pals–which will arrive Feb. 10, 2006. In recent years, Valentine’s Day weekend has produced such lovey-dovey blockbusters as Hitch, 50 First Dates and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
He also may engage in Sex Talk, as a sports reporter forced to yak about battles in the bedroom, and take a Ride Along with The Rock before marrying the overprotective cop’s sister.
The Bottom Line
ABC shut the pizza place down years ago and Reynolds is no closer to movie stardom. That could change if The Amityville Horror remake comes close to matching the original’s $86.4 million haul. But nothing could be more scarier for Reynolds if The Amityville Horror flops and Just Friends isn’t When Harry Met Sally… for the 2000s. Reynolds might then scramble to get back on TV quicker than you can order a large pizza with the works.
