Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill are co-starring in an action movie that should have come out months ago. Both stars are alumni of major superhero franchises and have resumes of movies that have collectively grossed more than $3.5 billion apiece.
Cavill is best known for playing Superman in the DC Extended Universe (which has since had a soft reboot as the DC Universe, with David Corenswet in the role), in movies including Man of Steel and Justice League. However, he has also held roles in other notable franchises, including Netflix’s Enola Holmes movies and the Mission: Impossible sequel Fallout.
Jake Gyllenhaal movies feature an even wider spread. While he has starred in major blockbusters such as The Day After Tomorrow and Spider-Man: Far From Home, he also has a reputation for cult movies like Donnie Darko and arthouse movies like the Best Picture nominee Brokeback Mountain (which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor).
Henry Cavill & Jake Gyllenhaal Are The Stars Of Guy Ritchie’s Next Movie, In The Grey
They Are Both Reuniting With The Director
The stars’ first film collaboration is In the Grey, which was written, directed, and produced by Guy Ritchie and which wrapped principal pH๏τography in October 2023. Both stars are alumni of previous Guy Ritchie movies, as Jake Gyllenhaal led 2023’s The Covenant and Henry Cavill starred in both 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and 2024’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Guy Ritchie is best known for gangster movie such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, though he has also helmed big-budget blockbusters like Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin.
The movie, which was sH๏τ on Tenerife, stars Gyllenhaal and Cavill as two men who are on an extraction mission, hoping to rescue a negotiator. While not many other plot details have been revealed about the movie, the In the Grey trailer premiered at CinemaCon in 2024.
The trailer showcased action-packed sequences including a shootout in a cafe and Jake Gyllenhaal’s character using a rocket launcher while in a helicopter.
The star-studded cast of In the Grey also includes Eiza González (also an alumnus of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time), Fisher Stevens (The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun), Jason Wong (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), and Carlos Bardem (ᴀssᴀssin’s Creed).
In The Grey Lost Its Release Date Last Year & Still Hasn’t Been Rescheduled
It Was Originally Scheduled For January
Although In the Grey was originally scheduled to premiere on January 17, 2025, it was pulled from the schedule by Lionsgate (which had acquired distribution rights in October 2023) in November 2024.
Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, this decision was made because post-production on the movie still wasn’t finished, even though principal pH๏τography wrapped in October 2023. This was the case because SAG-AFTRA granted the production an interim agreement amid their 2023 strike, which lasted from July 14 through November 9.
Even though six months have pᴀssed since the movie’s original premiere date, it has not yet been put back on the calendar. This is unusual, because unless post-production was paused for an unknown reason, it seems unlikely that the movie would have needed more than half a year to be completed.
A fear of potential diminishing returns may be causing [Lionsgate] to be cautious…
There are a number of potential reasons why the movie doesn’t have a new release date just yet. One could be possible hesitation stemming from Ritchie’s previous collaborations with both stars. The Covenant only made $21.9 million against a reported budget of $55 million, while The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare grossed $29.7 million against $60 million.
While Lionsgate is only on the hook for the distribution costs, a fear of potential diminishing returns may be causing them to be cautious when finding the right time to premiere In the Grey. January 2025 could have been a good debut month if the movie had been ready, because there was very little compeтιтion at that time.
While January was marked by mid-sized domestic releases such as Den of Thieves 2: Pantera and One of Them Days as well as outright flops including Wolf Man and Better Man, the proceeding months saw an increasing number of major releases that would have competed with the Guy Ritchie movie, including Sinners, Superman, and Lilo & Sтιтch.
It is possible that Lionsgate is waiting to find out when Netflix’s The Gentlemen season 2 will premiere on Netflix. The Guy Ritchie series has been a major success for the streaming service, so positioning the release of In the Grey to come shortly after the show’s return could see it striking at a time when Ritchie’s name has even more cachet.
The Gentlemen, which stars Theo James, is a spinoff from Guy Ritchie’s 2019 movie of the same name.
It is also possible that In the Grey could still be in post-production, with no end in sight. Ritchie’s work on the movie may have been delayed by his attachment to upcoming projects including The Gentlemen, the Prime Video mystery series Young Sherlock (starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin), and the comedy movie Wife & Dog (starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rosamund Pike).
Ultimately, given the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill, and Guy Ritchie are all well-known names in the industry, it seems likely that In the Grey will eventually see the light of day. However, in the meantime, the exact reasons behind its continued delay remain unknown.
Source(s): ᴅᴇᴀᴅline
