Is there a busier director out there than Guy Ritchie? This year saw the release of his epic The League of Ungentlemanly Warfare and his TV adaptation of The Gentlemen. He also already has two movies wrapped for 2025. There’s In The Grey, which teams Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill, and then there’s Fountain of Youth with Natalie Portman and John Krasinski in the cast. Plus, he’s shooting two more series this year – Young Sherlock for Prime Video and the all-star The Associates for Paramount Plus. Now, we can add one more movie to his slate for next year – Wife & Dog, which is set to star Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and Anthony Hopkins.
According to a release from Black Bear, the company financing the film, Ritchie, who is also writing, will start shooting the film in February. The film is set in the back-stabbing world of the English aristocracy, which is familiar territory for the director, having been the milieu of both the movie and TV versions of The Gentlemen. That series was one of Netflix’s biggest hits of 2024, and it will also be getting a second season, although there is no news yet on when it will film.
In many ways, Ritchie seems to be taking a page from Taylor Sheridan. He has established his own universe of content broaching both TV and film, much of it carrying a distinct flavour that sets him apart. Ritchie doesn’t seem like a guy who rests on his laurels, so it’s not a surprise he’s gotten a film going while he works on his TV projects, which at least allows him to share directing and writing duties.
One interesting thing about Ritchie is that he seems to have found a smart way to consistently get his films financed. This usually involves slicing up territories for the eventual release, with streaming rights being a big piece of the pie. The League of Ungentlemanly Warfare was a Prime Video original in most territories outside of the U.S.
This will be the first time Cumberbatch and Hopkins have been in the cast of a Ritchie film. Pike co-stars in his upcoming In The Grey, which comes out January 17th, 2025.
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