Every once in a while, a funny thing happens in Hollywood where comparable movies hit the big screen in the same year. Remember when Antz and A Bug’s Life both came out in 1998? Or how about when The Illusionist and The Prestige were part of 2006’s slate? And one cannot forget that time when Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War both pitted major heroes against each other in 2016. This year, history is repeating itself when it comes to imaginary friend movies between Blumhouse’s Imaginary and Paramount’s IF.
With Imaginary up first among them in the 2024 movie release schedule, CinemaBlend spoke to producer Jason Blum and director Jeff Wadlow about the coincidence. Here’s what Wadlow shared about the fascinating phenomenon:
They're editing the movie on the same floor as us in New York City. I walked by Krasinski a couple times and I felt like I'm dating someone's girlfriend. I had my head down like this… I mean I've worked with Ryan a few times. I haven't reached out to him yet. I just kind of wanna like, just leave it alone.
Imaginary is among the upcoming horror movies, as it tells the story of a former imaginary friend that reemerges from the childhood home of DeWanda Wise’s Jessica when she moves back there with her husband and stepchildren. On the other hand, John Krasinski is the director behind a family-oriented fantasy about a young girl who goes on an adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary friends “IFs.” Here’s how Imaginary’s producer Jason Blum responded:
We did a kind of funny thing during the Super Bowl because there was an ad for that movie during the Super Bowl and then we did this funny thing online around it. But I saw John Krasinski about two or three weeks ago and he was a little standoffish, so I hope he is not upset with us. But I really think there's plenty of room for imaginary movies in the world… The tones are so different.
While it’s rather wild that there are two movies in the same year about imaginary friends, especially since we could count on one hand movies about the subject in the past, as Blum shared, they are not the same movie by any means. He explained that he ran into the IF director recently and felt that John Krasinski was “a little standoffish” with him. Of course, sometimes these things just happen, and both filmmakers must know this is likely just a massive coincidence! Wadlow also said this:
The audiences are very different. This is not like a White House Down / Olympus Is Falling kind of situation. They're very different movies.
Time will tell how the pair of imaginary friends movies stack up! This weekend, Imaginary will open next to Kung Fu Panda 4 and the second weekend of Dune: Part 2, which had a massive debut this past weekend. You can compare and contrast the Blumhouse horror movie by watching IF’s Super Bowl trailer below:
IF has a stacked cast list that includes Ryan Reynolds, Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Fiona Shaw. While Imaginary hits theaters this weekend, IF will come out on May 17.
