We are still several months away from seeing Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell’s Christmas musical movie Spirited arrive on Apple TV+, but the streamer has been sharing some new images from the film as part of a preview of their upcoming slate of films and shows, which include Zac Efron’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever and the Henry Cavill thriller Argylle. Spirited is a new take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, one of the most adapted festive stories ever, and what Reynolds and Ferrell, with the help of Octavia Spencer and Sunita Mani, can do with the IP.
When it was announced that Reynolds and Ferrell would be coming together for the movie, Reynolds clearly could not be happier to be working with someone he sees as a huge inspiration and one of his personal heroes. However, in recent years, Ferrell has had many more misses than hits, while Reynolds's career has gone stratospheric thanks to his roles in Deadpool, Red Notice and Free Guy as well as his new movie The Adam Project. Putting the two actors together can surely not fail, and that is certainly what Apple will be hoping for after spending a reported $75 million on the talent involved.
While A Christmas Carol has been seen in many formats, from classic versions starring Alastair Sim, and George C. Scott, to the iconic Muppet take on the story featuring Michael Caine, and alternative modern takes such as Bill Murray’s Scrooged, Spirited promises to be a comedy musical extravaganza and the new stills certainly show a lot of color, Christmas sparkle and elaborate song and dance numbers.
Ryan Reynolds Has Been on a Massively Successful Run and Spirited Is Almost Guaranteed to Continue It
Spirited takes a risk in adapting Dickens's classic story of an old miser who is encouraged to change his ways by three ghosts who show him his past and present mistakes and where it will lead in the future, as when it comes to Christmas stories, none have been told more since the first silent movie version in 1908. Having been adapted directly more than thirty times, and also inspired hundreds of other movies and TV show episodes, whether there is room for yet another adaptation is the real question.
In the end, the big draw here is the teaming up of Reynolds and Ferrell as clearly opposing forces, and turning it into a big festive entertainment extravaganza may just mean that Apple TV+ can pull off a big holiday ratings winner. With the first images being teased already, and behind-the-scenes footage leaked from the set during filming getting a lot of attention last year, Spirited seems set to get a lot of promotion as its release date draws closer. There is certainly no one would expect any movie starring Ryan Reynolds to flop right now, and with his MCU Deadpool debut on the cards, as well as one or more sequels to his 2021 hit Free Guy also being teased, there seems no end in sight for the Reynolds bandwagon. For his many fans, there couldn’t be a better time to jump on board.