I can't say that I enjoyed Tim Story's Ride Along all that much, but there's no denying its success. Despite coming out in January, which is typically regarded as one of the worst months of the year to release a film, the comedy has already made $75 million domestically on a $25 million budget, completely owning the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The big numbers are a tribute to the growing star power of Kevin Hart, so it's no surprise that of one of his next movies will be following a very similar release schedule.
Variety has learned that The Wedding Ringer, originally slated to come out on February 6th, has now been moved by Sony to the 2015 MLK holiday weekend on January 16, 2015. While the film was originally set to go up against the fantasy thriller Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore and Ben Barnes, weirdly the project will now be facing some even stiffer competition, set to come out on the same day as both the new Frankenstein movie starring Daniel Radcliffe and the next film from director Michael Mann, which doesn't currently have a release date. It's a big sign of confidence in the project on the part of the studio, which was confirmed by Sony chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution Jeff Blake, who said in a statement, "We are big believers in his talent and it’s clear from the performance of ‘Ride Along’ that he is a star with a powerful box office presence."
In the new movie, which is directed and co-written by Jeremy Garelick (The Break Up), Hart will star as an entrepreneur who works as a "best man stand-in for socially challenged grooms." Basically, it sounds like a strange hybrid between I Love You, Man and Hitch.
Ride Along was the first hit of the year for Hart, but he still has plenty more coming out in the next few months. Coming out next will be director Steve Pink's remake of the romantic comedy About Last Night...
...while the coming months will also see him reprise his role as Cedric in Think Like A Man Too and star in Nick Cannon's School Dance. Are you excited to see more of Kevin Hart on the big screen?
