Studio boss has given a green light for another installment of Keanu Reeves hitman franchise after the newly-released fourth movie made a huge splash at box office.
- Apr 1, 2023
AceShowbiz - "John Wick 5" is already in the works. The fourth installment of the Keanu Reeves hitman franchise has just begun its cinema run, but Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Joe Drake says the "will" and "openness" is there to make a follow-up after the team take a "tiny rest."
"There's a will and there's an openness. And you could certainly interpret that ending in different ways. We're all going to take a tiny rest here and then scratch at ideas about whether there's a credible way to get into five. But there's no guarantee," Drake told The Hollywood Reporter about the possibility for another installment despite Reeves' eponymous assassin apparently meeting his demise at the end of "John Wick: Chapter 4".
Drake alluded to a prequel as a possibility for "Wick 5", adding, "You could certainly go earlier (with the story)." The studio chief added about the film's team, including its director Chad Stahelski, not wanting Wick to overstay his welcome, "Keanu and Chad, rightly so, are very protective about never screwing with the audience. So we certainly have our work cut out for us… Keanu is so beloved and that character is so beloved; that's not lost on him."
The fourth Wick had widely been expected to be the final part of the action series, but its astonishing opening at the global box office is likely to be the main factor behind thoughts of keeping the franchise alive.
Chapter 4 served up a massive $73.8 million domestically while overseas it debuted to a "resounding $67.6 million from 71 markets for a global start of $141.4 million," according to THR - which called the takings "a series record on all fronts."
Stahelski has stated he and Reeves were almost certain "John Wick 4" was the end for the dog-loving hitman's big screen battles, but the filmmaker had considered making the fourth and fifth films back-to-back. The idea was scrapped once the ending of Chapter 4 was decided upon.
"John Wick 4" is the second-best domestic opening of his live-action career behind "The Matrix Reloaded", which started off with $91.8 domestically two decades ago in 2003.
Despite a movie version of "John Wick 5" not coming anytime soon, Reeves is already due to return to the character in "Ballerina", the series' first spinoff, which stars Ana de Armas as a killer-for-hire. Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and the late Lance Reddick also star in the film, expected to be released in 2024, and which is set between the events of "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" and "John Wick: Chapter 4".
