Last week, the John Wick saga reached an impressive milestone: $1 billion at the worldwide box office across the four films in the series. Not too shabby for a film franchise built from the ground up, and based on nothing beyond Keanu Reeves’ love of stunt work and dogs.
Now if you’ve seen John Wick: Chapter 4, you know that its ending made it look like the franchise could conceivably end there. (No spoilers, but look, there’s only so many people a man can kill out of revenge for the death of his puppy.) But what did we just say? This franchise has made $1 billion — and the last one was the biggest to date, grossing $427 million worldwide. So we’re thinking this character’s back, no matter what the end of John Wick 4 said.
So does Lionsgate. On the company’s recent quarterly earnings call, its Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake said the company is developing a John Wick: Chapter 5, along with multiple other John Wick spinoffs across film, television, and even video games.
“We’re building out the world and when that fifth movie comes, [it] will be organic, will be organically grown out of how we’re starting to tell those stories. But you can rely on a regular cadence of John Wick.” said Drake.
READ MORE: How John Wick: Chapter 4 Pulled Off That Stairwell Scene
The first John Wick spinoff, Ballerina, has already been shot; starring Ana de Armas (and featuring John Wick regulars Reeves, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick in supporting roles), the thriller is scheduled to open in theaters in June of 2024. And the first TV series, a prequel called The Continental, premieres on Peacock in September.
John Wick: Chapter 4 suggested several potential spinoffs, most obviously one for Donnie Yen’s character, the blind assassin Caine. But the slam dunk idea to me is the John Wick video game. The whole premise seems perfect for games. You could do a story-heavy game featuring Reeves’ character. Or you could do some kind of online battle royale game set in the world of John Wick involving its quirky mythology of well-dressed assassins. Frankly it’s such an obvious money maker, it’s kind of shocking that hasn’t happened yet.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is available on demand right now. The 4K and Blu-ray go on sale on June 13.
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