Delayed Release: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's Film 'It Ends With Us'
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's highly anticipated film adaptation of 'It Ends With Us' is set to grace the silver screen a few months later than originally scheduled, offering fans an exciting and worthwhile wait
Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni. Getty Images(2)
The movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, has been delayed. Originally set to be released on February 9, 2024, the film will now premiere in theaters on June 21, 2024. Baldoni, who directs and stars as Ryle Kincaid, made the announcement in July 2023.
Baldoni, along with Hoover and Lively, serve as executive producers on the project through Wayfarer Studios. Lively plays the lead role of Lily Bloom, with Brandon Sklenar as her first love, Jenny Slate as Ryle’s sister, Allysa, and Hasan Minhaj as Allysa’s husband, Marshall.
According to Wayfarer Studios’ website, the film follows Lily Bloom as she navigates her relationship with Ryle Kincaid, who she believes to be the love of her life. However, a painful experience of abuse forces her to confront her troubled past and question whether love alone is enough to sustain her marriage. The situation becomes even more complicated with the return of her first love, whom she once helped when he was homeless.
The film’s release date was delayed due to the recent Hollywood strikes, which paused production in June 2023 after producers failed to persuade the WGA to allow filming to continue. The WGA strike ended in September 2023, followed by SAG-AFTRA two months later. The movie, based on the 2016 book of the same name, has faced backlash regarding casting and photos from the set, as the characters in the book are supposed to be 23 and 30 years old, while the actors are 36 and 39 in real life.
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Hoover stood by the age gap in a June 2023 conversation with Today, clarifying that she created the character of Ryle, a neurosurgeon, without fully comprehending the extensive years required to become a doctor.
"Every author makes mistakes," she told Jenna Bush Hager. "You don't see 28-year-old neurosurgeons, do you? It takes 15 years of schooling. So, to fix my errors in the book, we decided to age the characters up."
She continued, expressing her appreciation for the discussions about the film, saying, "I believe people will be happy. I know I am."
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Critics of the novel have also expressed their disappointment with the costume and hair and makeup design for Lily. One person commented in May 2023, "How did they manage to make the beautiful Blake Lively look so unattractive?" Another remarked, "I thought her character was supposed to be a quirky single mom, not someone wearing a strange outfit and a cheap wig from Party City."
In a Today interview, Hoover also discussed the fashion criticism, stating, "I didn't focus on describing outfits in the book. What's important to me is the conversation and the story. It's the same in the movie. Some outfits are being taken out of context, but I'm not concerned about it."
