While John Wick 4 just hit theaters, its explosion in box office sales apparently has Lionsgate officially eyeing up doing John Wick 5, somehow.
The news (via Hollywood Reporter) was confirmed by Lionsgate group chair Joe Drake, who indicated a fifth film is officially being considered because of the latest entry’s massive sales.
John Wick: Chapter 4 managed to rake in $73.8 million domestically and $67.6 million overseas from 71 markets for a whopping global total of $141.4 million, a series record for all the aforementioned stats.
“There’s a will and there’s an openness. And you could certainly interpret that ending in different ways,” Drake said. “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.”
The original plan for the fourth film was to produce it back-to-back with John Wick 5, however that never happened when the team made the decision to make John Wick 4 the series finale. Director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves both agreed on the ending of the movie as well.
“Keanu and Chad, rightly so, are very protective about never screwing with the audience,” Drake added. “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.”
In another interview, Chad indicated quite firmly that both he and Keanu are done with the franchise, for the moment at least.
“In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest,” Chad said. “I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. Wicks always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan.”
He added, “It’s always like, three months later. If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, “What do you think?” We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.”
John Wick: Chapter 4 just premiered in North American theaters on March 24, 2023.
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