The fourth time is the charm it seems, as John Wick‘s latest entry has opened to a franchise-best of $8.9M in Thursday previews at the domestic box office. While the franchise dropped the additional subtitle like John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum, John Wick: Chapter 4 is definitely making headlines as it’s expected to open at around $70M domestically.
That would make it a massive jump from the original John Wick which opened to $14M back in 2014 and quite a leap from the previous entries’ $56.8M. There’s a similar jump in Thursday previews highlighting just how popular the Keanu Reeves-led franchise is that combines his usual charms with memorable action set pieces.
Though, the latest entry is also the most expensive at around $100M, which highlights just how far the franchise has come over the years. There’s also no doubt it’ll dethrone Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which fizzled out in its opening weekend at around $30M. Chapter 4 also marks a bittersweet entry, as Lance Reddick tragically passed away shortly before the film’s premiere, which will definitely make it a must-see for fans of the franchise.
There’s no franchise that does action just like John Wick, which gives the films an edge when compared to others. Even with its success, not many were able to replicate the formula that made it stand out the way it does and it’ll be interesting to see just how much more they have planned for Baba Yaga moving forward as they have a female-centric spinoff and prequel series in development.
Source: Variety
