Guy Ritchie, the filmmaker behind “Snatch” and “The Gentlemen,” has built a career on criminal capers, clipped banter, and action that moves with its own swagger. But as “In The Grey” heads into theaters May 15, 2026, via Black Bear, Ritchie is talking about a film business where the old measures of success no longer explain much with certainty.
The new film, written and directed by Ritchie, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Kristofer Hivju, Fisher Stevens, Rosamund Pike, and Carlos Bardem as part of a covert team of elite operatives sent to recover a stolen billion-dollar fortune. It is the kind of original, star-driven action movie that has become harder to position in a marketplace still tilted toward franchises, brands, and pre-awareness. Ritchie, though, does not see the problem in simple theatrical terms.
Speaking on The Discourse podcast with Mike DeAngelo, Ritchie was asked how he thinks about making original action films when the business has become so difficult for them.
“It’s a good question. And I’m not sure if I’m qualified to answer because the sands change,” Ritchie said, in answer that reflected uncertainty. “And by the way, the business is not as transparent as it used to be financially.”
That opacity is central to Ritchie’s view of the current moment. A film can seem quiet in public, then later reveal value through streaming, library play, or some other metric that does not carry the blunt visibility of a weekend box-office number.
“So what works financially is not obvious like it used to be, right? So we’ve made films that don’t seem commercially viable or successful. And then you find out a year later, they’re very commercial and viable,” he said. “But it’s not transparent because you used to be able to just calibrate things in terms of box office. That’s not how it works anymore. So how the industry works is constantly changing, and you think you understand it and then you realize you’re completely wrong,” he added.
Ritchie pointed to “Fountain Of Youth,” his Apple adventure film, as an example of a movie whose public footprint did not match what he later learned about its performance.
“‘Fountain of Youth’ really didn’t make a noise at all. And then it’s the most successful [Apple film] after ‘F1,’” Ritchie said. “And it plows away, right? And it’s absolutely nothing. And we bumped into an article that told us that.”
The same uncertainty applies to audience behavior. Ritchie did not frame the critic-viewer divide as a clean opposition, but he did point to a widening gap between what gets praised and what people actually finish.
“And it’s funny. You find out what works, what doesn’t work, what’s popular with critics isn’t popular with the audience, and what’s popular with the audience isn’t popular with critics. I mean, particularly that what’s become critically acclaimed has become less and less popular with an audience,” he said.
“And sort of, I’m not sure if it’s vice versa, but it’s certainly conspicuously gone that direction. So the industry isn’t; it’s not transparent at all. So we’ve made our business to be quite busy,” he added.
Ritchie said television has made the business feel broader, not simpler, because longer-form storytelling comes with different creative and financial pressures.
“And also like in TV, and then you find out, then you start to realize all the different formats, the different revenue streams,” Ritchie said. “And so there’s an industry, there’s a creative industry, there’s a financial industry. And that in itself is all very creative, right?”
That has made him more attentive to the strange, sometimes irrational mechanics that keep an audience watching.
“It’s pretty interesting to see how it unfurls, what’s palatable, what’s not palatable,” Ritchie said. “I mean, it’s funny, I end up watching really shit movies. And I go, but I got to the end, right?”
He added, “I’ve started watching quite good movies, and I never made it to the end, right? And you could go for a cup of tea, and you never come back again, right? And you get distracted by something else. And oddly, a poo movie can keep you there, right? And you know, that’s a skill in itself.”
“So filmmaking, it’s an odd game,” Ritchie said. “It’s an odd game.”
Television has given Ritchie another way into that game. With “The Gentlemen” and “Mobland,” he has been working in longer formats that let him expand on criminal worlds, power dynamics, and the shifting loyalties that have long driven his films. Asked whether successful TV worlds become easier or harder to revisit once expectations rise, Ritchie said he is still learning the form by doing it.
“I don’t know, I’ll tell you why, because I’ve only done three TV shows and I’m going back for three bites of all of those three. The only thing I do know is I think ‘The Gentleman,’ which I’ve just finished, I really think that’s a successful second season. And I really enjoyed that process, right?” he said.
“And it opened up all sorts of gateways for me,” he continued. “Which I didn’t [see at first]
—until you make something that’s not 16 hours of entertainment, but it’s something like that, where you start off based on a movie, and you realize there’s all sorts of worlds to be enjoyed there. I’ve really enjoyed that.”
Ritchie said he has also finished his part on the next round of “Mobland.”
“But yeah, I mean, there’s a lot to be learned and experienced within the business, within the industry, within the creative aspect, with new actors, with old actors, what they think works, what you think works, and what you both think works doesn’t work. And so there’s a sort of galaxy of complications, and it just feels like you want to be in the fight,” he said.
That fight may still include “Sherlock 3,” the long-discussed follow-up to Ritchie’s Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law franchise. The third film has circled development for years without locking into place, but Ritchie said the hope is not dead.
“No, I very much, by the way, every year we go through this process,” he explained, of having an iteration pass at that third film every 12 months. “And I love the idea of it. I have no idea where we are with it, but every year it looks like it’s about to happen and then something happens.”
For now, “In The Grey” comes first, with Ritchie moving between original action, television, and the lingering possibility that his Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson may still find their way back to the screen. The film opens on May 15, 2026, via Black Bear. More from this interview soon— Additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo.
