John Wick: Chapter 4 ($406 Million Worldwide Box Office)

‘John Wick 5’ Confirmed By Lionsgate; Sequel Will Be Shot Back To Back With Fourth Installment

Keanu Reeves is back in the back-to-back sequels game with John Wick 4 and 5 aiming to film consecutively next year.

On today’s Lionsgate earnings call, the studio’s CEO John Feltheimer said, “We’re also busy preparing scripts for the next two installments of our John Wick action franchise, with John Wick 4 slated to hit theatres Memorial Day weekend 2022.  We hope to shoot both John Wick 4 & 5 back to back when Keanu becomes available early next year.”

The sequel, John Wick 4, is currently scheduled for May 27, Memorial Day weekend.

John Wick has become such a big action franchise for Lionsgate, not just in its global franchise B.O. through three movies of $584.2M, but there’s a Starz John Wick TV series The Continental which is looking to premiere sometime following the fourth movie.

Currently, Reeves is shooting Matrix 4 for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow in Berlin, Germany. Reeves shot Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolutions (parts 2 and 3 of that franchise) back to back from March 2001 to August 2002.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Nice! Matrix 4 and 2 John Wick movies. Keanu has a busy schedule ahead.

Tyger wrote:B&T3 is already done though

‘John Wick 4’ and ‘5’ Will Not Be Written by Franchise Architect Derek Kolstad; ‘The Continental’ Announcements Coming Soon

While director Chad Stahelski has been behind the camera of every John Wick movie and Keanu Reeves is obviously the face of the franchise, the whole thing began with Derek Kolstad. The screenwriter wrote the original screenplay and concocted this entire world of international assassins, cool hotels, mysterious monetary denominations, and bulletproof suits. But it sounds like Kolstad’s time with the franchise is over, because in a new interview, he has revealed that he will not be writing the scripts for the previously announced John Wick 4 and John Wick 5.

And if you’re dying for more info about the John Wick spin-off TV series The Continental, it sounds like you won’t have to wait very long before you hear some concrete information about it.

In an interview with Collider, Kolstad was asked where he was in the writing process of John Wick 4 and John Wick 5, but he surprisingly responded, “I’m actually not involved in four and five.”

“At a certain stage of the studio will tell you, your creation is graduated, and you wish it well,” Kolstad explained. “I’m still close with Chad, still close with Dave, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”

According to the writer, it was not his plan to step away from the franchise – that’s a call that was made by Lionsgate.

“No, it wasn’t my decision,” he said. “When you think of the [contracts] of these things, the third one I shared the credit with any number of people, they didn’t have to come back to me, and so they didn’t. And so you look at that and you could be hurt, and I would – say, if I was 20 years ago – I would have been, but seeing what the industry is and how things go, I just believe that you bless everything and hope it all the best, and to the players involved who are doing other things elsewhere. And yeah, it’s personal, so I’m never going to talk shit about John Wick. I want this thing to survive and thrive.”

The John Wick franchise plans to expand beyond the fourth and fifth movies with Ballerina, the first spin-off movie set in that universe. Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is directing that film, which “focuses on a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.” And don’t forget about the long-gestating TV series The Continental, set at the movie’s chain of sleek assassin-only hotels.

“They’re about to make some pretty large announcements in the next couple of weeks in regards to what’s going to happen there,” Kolstad said about the TV series. He confirmed that it is still happening, and also revealed that “[The show is] about how deep the world goes, and not just about assassins but everything that’s included. And a lot of the origin stories are some of the characters that you see in [John Wick].”

EXCLUSIVE: Donnie Yen has been set by director Chad Stahelski to star with Keanu Reeves in John Wick 4 for Lionsgate. Yen will play an old friend of Reeves’ super assassin John Wick, who shares his same history and many of the same enemies.

One of the most successful actor-filmmakers from the East, Yen is known for his unique style of contemporary screen combat. His popularity extends worldwide from roles in such features as xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the IP Man franchise.

Scripted by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, John Wick 4 is produced by Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Stahelski, with Reeves and Louise Rosner executive producers. The project begins production this summer shooting on location in France, Germany and Japan. Yen’s casting follows Lionsgate setting Japanese-British pop superstar Rina Sawayama for a lead role.

“We are very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise,” said Stahelski. “I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role.”

Added Iwanyk: “Donnie Yen will bring a vibrant and powerful energy to the franchise. We were determined to bring him on board to John Wick 4 and are thrilled for the opportunity to have such a major talent to collaborate with Keanu.”

‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Release Date Delayed Until 2023

On the day that Keanu Reeves' The Matrix Resurrections comes to theaters, John Wick 4 - which was originally scheduled to be released on the same day as the latest Matrix film - has been pushed from its May 2022 release date to March 24, 2023.

The series, which stars Reeves as John Wick, has delighted fans of the actor and intense action movies and was originally set for this year along with The Matrix Resurrections. Sadly, our year of Keanu movies has been impacted and it seems now that John Wick 4 won't make a 2022 release date at all.

Reeves stars in the John Wick franchise as a retired hitman who is brought back into the underground world of assassins when someone comes for his beloved dog, The John Wick movies have proven to us all once more just how good Reeves is. An action star of the highest caliber, there's a reason that fans were excited when it seemed as if we were going to spend the entire day in the movie theaters just watching Reeves' movies.

The trailer released with the new release date features operators working at their phones and opening a file on John Wick, typing into their computers that John Wick: Chapter 4 will be heading to us in 2023 with a "be seeing you" message at the end of it. We're still in an uncertain landscape about movie theaters and release dates, but it's still a shame to see John Wick: Chapter 4 pushed back once more. At the very least, we know that The Continental, Starz's prequel miniseries set in the world of John Wick is also on the way, and will star Colin Woodell and Mel Gibson.

Lionsgate on Thursday revealed the first public look at John Wick: Chapter 4, the latest in hitman franchise that stars Keanu Reeves. Earlier this year, the studio revealed that the pic will hit theaters on March 24, 2023, and showed off a still-unreleased trailer in April at CinemaCon.

Reeves and director Chad Stahelski were in attendance at that Las Vegas-set exhibitor confab to reveal the trailer.

The new look, sent out via Lionsgate’s social media channels. shows Reeves’ Wick at some sort of altar.

Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson and Lance Reddick star in the new pic, written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. Plot details are under wraps.

The John Wick franchise through three movies has racked up $584.7 million at the worldwide box office.

Keanu Reeves is back as an elite killer.

The eagerly awaited “John Wick Chapter 4” marks Reeves’ return to the beloved assassin of few words. While the plot remains under wraps, the film is expected to pick up after Wick was delivered to the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) at the end of “John Wick Chapter 3,” after trying to topple the assassin hierarchy The High Table.

The film also stars Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Rina Sawayama. “John Wick Chapter 4” is directed by Chad Stahelski from a script written by Michael Finch and Shay Hatten.

Stahelski previously told The Hollywood Reporter that “Chapter 4” will find “new and interesting ways to have John Wick suffer” through even more insane stunts — as if killing a man using just a library book wasn’t enough. The second-to-last “John Wick” film also marks the beginning of the end of Reeves burning the candle at both ends as Wick.

“John may survive all this shit, but at the end of it, there’s no happy ending. He’s got nowhere to go,” Stahelski said, comparing Wick to Odysseus. “Honestly, I challenge you right now, here’s a question to you: How do you fucking want me to end it? Do you think he’s going to ride off into the fucking sunset? He’s killed 300 fucking people and he’s just going to [walk away], everything’s okay? He’s just going to fall in love with a love interest? If you’re this fucking guy, if this guy really exist[ed], how is this guy’s day going to end? He’s fucked for the rest of his life. It’s just a matter of time.”

Reeves and co-star McShane are set to appear in spinoff film “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas as a graduate of the Director’s (Angelica Huston) ballet academy who is forced out of retirement after a gang murders her whole family. The titular unnamed killer dancer has to take down both the gang of murderers and the corrupt local European government that protects them.

The film is based on a character who briefly appeared in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” played by professional dancer Unity Phelan and simply credited as “Ballerina.”

A Starz prequel series titled “The Continental” is also in the works about the hotel for mercenaries, set in the 1970s.

“John Wick Chapter 4” premieres in theaters March 24, 2023.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Nice! Making it out alive in Chapter 3 was a miracle. The High Table is all about rules and their code, if he wins the proposed fight challenge then they have to let him walk free.

By the way, Keanu is still looking damn good.

Rusty wrote:I still haven't seen part 3 yet. Is it worth it? The first was great. The second was OK, but not enough to launch into 3.

Tyger wrote:I thought 3 was better than 2, but not good enough to make me excited enough to even watch the trailer for 4

Tyger wrote:I’ll see the movie, that’s why I don’t care about the trailer. As much world building as they do, I still wish they stopped at the first movie.

Rusty wrote:

Tyger wrote:I’ll see the movie, that’s why I don’t care about the trailer. As much world building as they do, I still wish they stopped at the first movie.

I feel the same way. The first was a fantastic contained story. The second was OK, but when I saw the trailer for 3 and saw him riding a horse in the city doing tactical shit, they lost me. That was encroaching Fast & Furious levels of retardese, and belongs on the pages of a comic book/graphic novel.

It will be a random background stream whilst I'm doing something else.

Tyger wrote:Saw it tonight, I think it’s the second best of the series

John Wick is a man of few words. No really. A report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that Keanu Reeves’ eponymous assassin says only 380 words across 103 lines of dialogue during “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which runs nearly three-hours long with its 169 minute runtime. Nearly a third of Reeves’ dialogue in the sequel consists of just one single word.

As reported by Wall Street Journal: “In the first installment, clocking in at 101 minutes, Mr. Reeves said a total of 484 words. With a run time of 169 minutes, the fourth movie pushes three hours but features just 380 words by Wick. About 10% of them are featured in the movie’s trailer, which makes the hero seem almost chatty; Wick says more in that 2.5 minute clip than he does in the first 25 minutes of the movie itself.”

John Wick’s limited dialogue is all by design. “John Wick: Chapter 4” director Chad Stahelski and Reeves “stripped out roughly half the dialogue written for his character in the initial script.” The scene in which John Wick and the villainous Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) hash out the rules of their duel was scripted with Wick having 50% of the dialogue in the scene, for instance. Reeves cut out chunks of dialogue so that John Wick only has a few one-word responses in the scene, including “pistol” and “no quarter.”

“It’s a shock when you work with him how dedicated he is to not speaking,” the film’s co-screenwriter Michael Finch told The Wall Street Journal.

John Wick’s longest run of dialogue in the movie is just a sentence. “You and I left a good life behind a long time ago, my friend,” John Wick tells his friend Shimazu Koji, the leader of the Osaka Continental Hotel played by Hiroyuki Sanada.

Of course, what John Wick lacks in dialogue he more than makes up for in grueling action scenes where Reeves’ body is put through the wringer. Reeves has called “John Wick: Chapter 4” the hardest action movie he’s ever had to make. The actor spent nearly three months exclusively training for the stunts in the movie. The most challenging one to prep for was a car stunt in which Reeves’ character races around the historic Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. The actor had to learn how to do a reverse 180 and drift all while reloading his prop gun and shooting it out of the door.

“John Wick: Chapter 4” is now playing in theaters nationwide from Lionsgate.

Tyger wrote:Pfft, he’s not dead

Tyger wrote:I don’t know that this series was ever grounded in reality. You KNOW he'll be back.