How many projects does Guy Ritchie currently have percolating, and who keeps funding them? The man is giving Hong Sang-soo a run for his money as the most prolific filmmaker working today.
Coming off “In the Grey,” which was itself significantly delayed before being quietly dumped this past January, Ritchie already has another troubled film on his hands: “Wife & Dog.”
The film wrapped production in March 2025 and was eventually slated for an October 2026 release by Black Bear. Since then? Radio silence. No trailer. Not even a poster. Now comes word that “Wife & Dog” has had its release pushed back to February 19, 2027.
“Wife & Dog” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, and Anthony Hopkins. If you can believe it, plot details are still being kept under wraps, though the film is described as “a return to the colourful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy” that Ritchie explored in “The Gentlemen” film and TV series.
Ritchie, who has directed six films in the last four years, also has another movie in the can—“Viva La Madness,” starring Jason Statham—which still doesn’t have a release date. On top of that, he’s directed and produced four television series over the last three years.
Whatever dirt Ritchie has on Hollywood’s most powerful, we may never know, but but it must be one hell of a file.
Ritchie built his reputation with stylish British crime comedies like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” earning a devoted following in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Of the many filmmakers influenced by “Pulp Fiction,” Ritchie seemed like one of the few with genuine staying power. However, in the 2010s, he pivoted toward big-budget studio projects—including “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Aladdin,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” and the two “Sherlock Holmes” films.
And so, we await “Wife & Dog,” another Guy Ritchie movie destined for the $5 DVD bins at Wal-Mart. A film shrouded in so much mystery that nobody even knows what it’s actually about. Only time will tell.
It’s no wonder 20th Century decided to dump the movie during the last week of August—a place where movies are set up to die quietly before the fall movie season begins.