Ryan Reynolds' production company, Maximum Effort, is working on reviving a classic superhero from 1942. Reynolds has been a Hollywood movie star for decades, but the last 10 years have seen his career reach soaring new heights. After appearing in Deadpool as the titular character in 2016, Reynolds has gone from strength to strength, with his business and marketing endeavors, his production company, and numerous other developments. Now Reynolds appears to be one of the most influential people in Hollywood, with many of his projects finding huge success.
Beyond the superhero genre, Reynolds has succeeded in creating films like Free Guy, The Adam Project, Detective Pikachu, and IF, which all managed to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, Ryan Reynolds' acting career has resulted in excess of $4.4 billion dollars generated at the box office (via The Numbers), putting him ahead of many of the most profitable franchises in cinema. And now, Reynolds has set his sights on restoring life to another long forgotten project with Maximum Effort and Paramount working together.
Deadpool Proves Ryan Reynolds Is A Good Fit For Mighty Mouse
A Quirky Superhero Parody Adapted Into A Feature Film
Mighty Mouse debuted in a short cartoon in 1942, titled The Mouse of Tomorrow. As is made clear by that title, Mighty Mouse was designed to be a fun and quirky parody of Superman, but the character's popularity quickly made it a hero in its own right. Over the years, Mighty Mouse was a prominent figure in a series of cartoons and shorts which totaled roughly 80 different projects by the time the character was retired in 1961. Since then, Mighty Mouse remains a fond memory, but the character never got a chance to explore the big screen.
How do you feel about Ryan Reynolds making a new Mighty Mouse movie?
It was recently revealed that Ryan Reynolds is teaming with Free Guy co-writer Matt Lieberman to develop a new Mighty Mouse movie adaptation, and I find myself somewhat mixed on the matter. While it's a character I certainly am open to seeing come back to the screen, and, for the most part, I've enjoyed Lieberman's work on screen, particularly with Free Guy and the Christmas Chronicles franchise, he does have a far bigger miss-to-hit ratio. Being part of the team behind 2020's Scoob!, in particular, makes me quite worried, because while he may not have been the only writer on that film, it was a prime example of a terrible modern update on a beloved animated franchise. Plus, with Reynolds' own shaky record of late, evidenced by the muted responses to Red Notice and Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, among others, this may not be the dream team.
Despite several attempts to get a Mighty Mouse feature film off the ground, the film has always fallen short, but it appears Reynold's is intent to change that once and for all. Pairing up with the writer behind Free Guy, one of Reynold's recent hits, Matt Lieberman and Reynolds are working to bring Mighty Mouse out of the dark ages and into the light. And looking at the track record, this appears to be a match made in heaven for Reynolds and Lieberman, as they prepare to adapt a fun parody superhero story for a contemporary audience.
Ryan Reynolds Has Already Voiced One Iconic Mouse Character
This Isn't Reynolds First Time Working With Iconic Animated Mice
Matt Lieberman has a lot of experience taking older IPs and making them relevant. He wrote the screenplay for the 2019 animated The Addams Family, and wrote for the 2020 Scoob! movie. And beyond that, Lieberman worked directly with Reynolds in the creation of Free Guy, where he incorporated dozens of iconic characters and IPs into a fun, action-packed adventure. Now the pair are reunited to take Mighty Mouse out of the shadows and give him a brand-new story, but it's not Reynolds' first dance with a super mouse on the big screen.
In Detective Pikachu, Reynolds voiced the titular hero of the film, Pikachu. This role relied on Reynolds' voice to carry the performance, and thanks to broad experience where his face is covered, it makes perfect sense that he excelled in this role. Now, Mighty Mouse hasn't confirmed the casting of the heroic mouse just yet, but with Reynolds already attached as a producer, and his skillset, it just makes sense. And if the movie leans into the comedy parody style for which it was originally created, Ryan Reynolds would be perfectly at home in that space.
