A close look at The Ministery of Ungentlemanly Warfare director Guy Ritchie’s recent filmography reveals he could be the hardest-working filmmaker in the business. Ritchie made his breakthrough with 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a British gangster comedy that also marked Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones’ screen debuts. In addition to the fame his relationship (and eventual marriage) to Madonna brought him, Guy Ritchie’s movies ran the gamut from gangster flicks (Snatch) to blockbusters like the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes duology.

Like any filmmaker who has managed to maintain a career in an ever-shifting business, Ritchie has survived huge critical and commercial bombs like Swept Away and reinvented himself more than once. Ritchie has largely avoided the gangster comedies he’s made his name on and has become focused on bigger-budget fare. His name is enough to attract starry ensembles too, and he can often be seen collaborating with Statham, Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jude Law.

Guy Ritchie Has Directed Non-Stop Since 2015’s The Man from UNCLE

Ritchie is easily one of the most prolific filmmakers of the last decade

Ritchie’s 2024 war movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is fronted by Cavill, Reacher’s Alan Ritchson and Eiza González, and is attracting healthy buzz. What’s somewhat shocking to note is that The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Ritchie’s eighth movie since 2015. That year saw the arrival of Ritchie’s The Man from UNCLE adaptation, which marked his first collaboration with Cavill.

The director hasn’t slowed down since, jumping straight into failed franchise starter King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and he had two movies land in 2019: his live-action remake of Aladdin and action comedy The Gentlemen. Ritchie reunited with Statham for the first time in 16 years for 2021’s Wrath of Man while the next Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham collaboration followed soon after with 2023’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, another ensemble caper. Not one to slack, Ritchie’s next 2023 movie The Covenant cast Jake Gyllenhaal as a soldier trying to save his interpreter from the Taliban.

There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter were able to pump out movies at an almost annual rate, but the business has changed a lot since those days. Putting together the financing and distribution for a film is more complex too, but none of these factors have slowed Guy Ritchie down in the last decade. Once he wraps up one project, he immediately hopes to another.

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Every Upcoming Guy Ritchie Film, Including The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Guy Ritchie and Henry Cavill’s partnership is stronger than ever

While Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is based on a real-life mission from World War 2 dubbed “Operation Postmaster,” it turns that story into an action comedy with a big name cast. In truth, it looks like Cavill’s best movie in some time and even feels spiritually in line with Quentin Tarantino’s alternate history WW2 epic Inglourious Basterds. Whether the film will be as well received is another question entirely, though the marketing is doing a great job selling it.

Ritchie went from The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare right on to his next project, Into The Grey. Footage from this action romp was unveiled at CinemaCon 2024, and In The Grey is fronted by Cavill, González and Ritchie’s Covenant leading man Jake Gyllenhaal. Solid story details are unknown, though the film will follow a team hired by rich clients to steal back money taken from them. The group dynamic makes it sound like Ritchie’s Operation Fortune, though considering that was one of the director’s more forgettable recent outings, hopefully Into The Grey will prove more distinctive.

Proving sleep is overrated, Guy Ritchie began filming his next big-budget project in February 2024. This high-concept Apple TV+ adventure is called Fountain of Youth, where estranged siblings must work together to find the titular fountain. Ritchie will reunite with González for the third time in a row, alongside John Krasinski, Natalie Portman and Domhnall Gleeson. Like In The Grey, plot details are largely under wraps, but both In The Grey and Fountain of Youth are set for 2025 releases.

Guy Ritchie Also Worked On Netflix’s The Gentlemen Adaptation

The filmmaker is working on a Ray Donovan spinoff too

In addition to his directing work, Ritchie has written on the vast majority of his films since The Man from UNCLE. Not content with merely juggling multiple action movies, Ritchie found time to create and direct two episodes of Netflix’s The Gentleman. This is a spinoff of his 2019 movie, and while he only helmed a quarter of its episodes, his style and imprint are all over it. The Gentleman also needed a healthy 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Around the time he began filming Fountain of Youth, it was announced Ritchie will be executive producing and directing episodes of The Donovans, a spinoff of Showtime’s Ray Donovan. Few details have been revealed, other than the spinoff being set in London, with some members of the cast set to return. Given the focus on Ray Donovan’s family, Liev Schreiber isn’t currently expected to appear, however. Also unknown is whether Ritchie will direct all ten episodes of The Donovans, or only some of them.

The Director Has Even Beat Out Filmmakers Like Ridley Scott

Guy Ritchie could make a claim to be the busiest working filmmaker

Guy Ritchie’s last decade or has been is an incredible run by any definition. He has written, produced and directed ten movies, and breaking down those numbers, Ritchie has been making a major new movie at a rate of one per year. Not even noted workaholic filmmakers like Ridley Scott or Clint Eastwood could match Ritchie’s output during the same period from 2015; Scott directed seven projects (including the upcoming Gladiator 2), while Eastwood helmed six, with his potential final movie Juror #2 currently in post-production.

The only other filmmaker matching Guy Ritchie’s pace is Steven Soderbergh. Since 2017, Soderbergh has been on a dizzying run of movie projects, from Logan Lucky to Unsane, and Magic Mike’s Last Dance; counting his 2024 horror Presence, Soderbergh has made nine movies in seven years.

Soderbergh found time to helm three miniseries too, directing every episode of shows like Full Circle. Soderbergh may beat Ritchie in terms of numbers, but even then, the latter’s films tend to be larger in scale than Soderbergh’s, and produced on smaller budgets. Both are filmmakers who have embraced streaming as a form of distribution, with many of Guy Ritchie’s movies being distributed by Prime overseas. This could be one reason he always has a new movie lined up when he wraps up another, and it doesn’t appear like he’s slowing down anytime soon.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Numbers

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a World War II film following a top-secret combat unit who were formed by Winston Churchill to hunt down Nazis. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie and based on the book The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops by Damien Lewis.

Release Date

April 19, 2024

Distributor(s)

Lionsgate

Cast

Henry Cavill , Eiza González , Alan Ritchson , Alex Pettyfer , Hero Fiennes Tiffin , Babs Olusanmokun , Til Schweiger , Henry Golding , Cary Elwes , Henrique Zaga

Runtime

120 Minutes