Did the Ongoing SAG-AFTRA Strike Negatively Affect John Cena’s Latest Release Freelance? Ratings, Plot, Cast & Other Details

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike that started in July 2023. The union, which represented almost 150,000 individuals, had joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in protesting over labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The alliance includes major film studios, television networks, and streaming services. While the WGA decided to end the strike on September 27th, the actors are still on strike.

Unfortunately, during the strike, John Cena’s latest action and comedy flick Freelance will be released on October 27th. How will these strikes affect his movie?

John Cena in Freelance

The plot of the movie is pretty simple and falls under the action/comedy genre. Cena plays the role of a retired special forces personnel who is now stuck at a desk job. An offer of $20,000 convinces him to go on a risky mission to escort a journalist (Alison Brie) who will be interviewing the dictator (Juan Pablo Raba) of a war-torn country. However, things start falling apart when the trio is stuck in between a military coup and it is now John Cena’s mission to save them.

The movie was announced in October 2021 and is set to release this weekend on October 27. Fans were excited to see the movie as action movie director Pierre Morel had teamed up with Writers Guild of America Awards winner Jacob Lentz to make the movie. The movie has been rated at 5.3/10 on IMBb and ranks at 479 with respect to popularity.

After his exit from WWE, John Cena made his name as a versatile actor. In the beginning, his stature made him a staple for action movies such as The Marine and 12 Rounds. But he slowly shifted his way to drama and then the comedy genre with Trainwreck and Ferdinand, with the latter being the first voice acting role of his career as the titular character. Now the star can be seen mostly either in comedy movies such as Blockers or action comedy movies like The Suicide Squad. 

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After the movie’s announcement, there was a buzz about the actors, and directors involved. But with the ongoing strikes, fans are wondering how this movie will perform at the box office.

The Hollywood strike and John Cena

The movie was announced back in October 2021, and the heat surrounding the movie slowly began to die. The movie, which is produced by Relativity Media, released its first trailer two months ago. The trailer barely raked in many views on YouTube for a Cena flick. The primary reason for the buzz to slowly die out might be due to SAG-AFTRA strikes. According to union rules, actors are prohibited from promoting movies during the strike.

Sequels of many fan favorites, such as The Equalizer 3, The Expendables 4, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 were released after the strikes began. While some were commercially successful, a few were failures. This might be attributed to the lack of promotion by the stars involved with the flicks. And John Cena’s upcoming movie might suffer the same fate.

While his return to WWE has been record-breaking, only time will tell whether his movie is successful. Are you excited about the movie?

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