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Tag: John Wick

  • ‘John Wick’ Spinoff, ‘Ballerina,’ Set for 2024 Release

    ‘John Wick’ Spinoff, ‘Ballerina,’ Set for 2024 Release

    As John Wick: Chapter 4 continues to dominate at the box office, Lionsgate is moving ahead with its plan to expand upon the franchise. Ballerina, the first spinoff film in the franchise, has finally been given a release date. The Ana de Armas-led film will hit theaters on June 7th, 2024.

    Ballerina was first announced as being in development back in 2017. That’s when Lionsgate purchased the rights to the spec action script with the hopes of turning it into a spinoff of its John Wick franchise. The story centers on “a young woman raised as an assassin who must hunt down the other assassins that murdered her family.” Along with Ballerina, Lionsgate is also developing a prequel television series titled The Continental. That series will debut on Starz and is set to star Colin Woodell, Mel Gibson and Peter Greene among others.

    Len Wiseman directed the film from a screenplay by Shay Hatten. Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, the late Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Norman Reedus star alongside de Armas. Also appearing in the film are Ian McShane and Keanu Reeves.

    Source: THR.

  • ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Dethrones ‘John Wick 4’ with a Decent Opening Weekend

    ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Dethrones ‘John Wick 4’ with a Decent Opening Weekend

    the final numbers are in and the Dungeons & Dragons film has barely missed out on the $40M mile but still pulled in an okay $38.5M. While it is higher than its initial predictions, which were set relatively low but not surprising given how sci-fi and fantasy struggle at the box office at times, it’s still going to face an uphill battle to make up for its high $150M budget. Internationally, the film has made around $71.5M with a softer $33M global cume.

    The reviews and PostTrak score are hinting that the film might have a chance at some strong legs but with tough competition on the horizon, it’s anyone’s game at this point. Including a premiere at SXSW, the marketing spend on this film is quite high and it’ll definitely need those legs to keep going but The Super Mario Bros. Movie is already on the horizon next weekend. As both share a similar audience, this year might become quite the bloodbath at the box office.

    John Wick Chapter 4 faced a surprising 62% drop to $28.2M after its record opening. Some thought it would drop lower with its strong word-of-mouth. “Blockbuster” releases have faced much higher drops since the pandemic started as people are much more selective in their viewing choices but this won’t stop John Wick’s latest adventure to become the highest-grossing of the franchise.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘John Wick 4’ Opens to an Impressive $137.5M Worldwide

    ‘John Wick 4’ Opens to an Impressive $137.5M Worldwide

    It looks like people are all-in for John Wick: Chapter 4. The franchise continues to grow and has managed to wrap up its weekend with $73.5M. That would put it above the recent $70M expected opening from 3,855 theaters. It’s come pretty far from the first John Wick‘s opening of $14.4M and has now passed the record set by the previous Parabellum entry of $56.8M.

    Internationally, the film did quite well as it passed all expected pre-release estimates and opened to $64M. As such, the film now proudly stands at a franchise’s best of a $137.5M global opening. Not many films can claim that their fourth entry managed to continue growing the franchise’s box office revenue with only nine managing to hold that title in the past 40 years.

    Lionsgate might also be quite happy as this is the highest opening they’ve had since The Hunger Games opened to $102.6M back in November of 2015. So, it has been a while since they had such a big hit in theaters. The latest film entry did make up 62% of the weekend gross and it was slim picking for the rest. Shazam: Fury of the Gods did slightly better than the expected 70% drop but a 68% drop with a $30M opening isn’t something you want to see, families truly aren’t back in theaters yet.

    Source: The Wrap, Deadline

  • ‘John Wick 4’ Opens to Franchise’s Best Thursday Previews at $8.9M

    ‘John Wick 4’ Opens to Franchise’s Best Thursday Previews at $8.9M

    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

  • ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Sets Its Sights on a Franchise Best Opening Weekend

    ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Sets Its Sights on a Franchise Best Opening Weekend

    Following the lackluster opening weekend of Shazam: Fury of the Gods, it looks like the Baba Yaga’s fourth big-screen adventure is set to kick ass at the box office. After getting glowing advace reviews that resulted in a 94% Fresh Rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 78, John Wick: Chapter 4 is setting up to have the franchise’s best opening weekend take.

    The franchise has always outperformed expectations, with each sequel significantly outperforming its predecessor at the box office. The three previous installments opened to $14M, $30.4M and $56.8M, respectively, and the trend looks to continue with the fourth film currently looking at a domestic opening weekend estimate of $70M and over $100M worldwide. Such a global opening would mean much of the film’s $100M production budget would be covered in the first three days of its theatrical window.

    The universe of John Wick is rapidly expanding with theatrical and streaming spinoffs planned but there seems to be no hint at waning interest from the audience. Perhaps superhero fatigure is real, but John Wick is tireless.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘John Wick 4’: The Sequel’s Rotten Tomatoes Score on Par with Other Films in the Franchise

    ‘John Wick 4’: The Sequel’s Rotten Tomatoes Score on Par with Other Films in the Franchise

    While March Madness is associated with the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments, this year it could also serve as an appropriate descriptor of the onslaught of major films coming out throughout the month. Creed III and Scream VI have already debuted in theaters and Shazam: Fury of the Gods and John Wick: Chapter 4 are set to roll out over the next two weeks. While the review embargo for the former hasn’t lifted yet, reviews for the latter started to roll in after 8:00 PM PST on March 13th and it looks like great news for fans of the franchise.

    The early reviews for John Wick: Chapter 4 seem to indicate it’s yet another solid installment in the ongoing saga of the Baba Yaga with 88% of the 26 reviews (23/26) giving the film a “fresh” bump. Though it’s still very early and that number could swing dramatically one way or the other, the film has been widely praised on social media as well. As it stands now, the 88% “fresh” rating puts it on par with the other Wick films.

    • John Wick (2014) 86%
    • John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) 89%
    • John Wick: Chapter 3–Parabellum (2019) 89%

    It sounds as though fans of the franchise will find exactly what they’re looking for in the 3-hour-long sequel: intense action, a high body count and all the Keanu Reeves they could ever want.

    John Wick: Chapter 4 opens in theaters on March 24th.

  • ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    The fourth entry of the John Wick franchise is almost upon us and the early tracking is looking at a promising high-opening weekend that could land anywhere between $60M to $70M. It would continue a strong tentpole spring market that saw some massive openings with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (ignoring its overall legs, it still is February’s third-highest opening ever), this weekend’s performance of Creed 3 and some surprise players like Cocaine Bear.

    John Wick: Chapter 4 may have lost its additional subtitle, but it’s still set for a strong weekend once it releases. Pandemic numbers are still shaky to predict as most box office openings are given mostly conservative estimates; especially by studios. There’s also the factor of a fourth entry in a film commonly being a big question mark for most.

    Still, the film is expected to be higher than Parabellum, which opened at $56.8M and managed to leg out to $171M. Worldwide it was the highest grossing of the franchise at around $585M. The appeal of these films seems to be with an otherwise dormant older audience that loves the appeal of this grounded action spectacle, similar to the audience that showed up for Top Gun: Maverick throughout its impressive leggy run. It’ll be interesting if that same appeal will remain for the spinoff Ballerina.

    Source: Deadline

  • Runtime Revealed for ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

    Runtime Revealed for ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

    Following the Superbowl television spot for John Wick: Chapter 4, which was meant to kick off Wick Week, the fourth film’s runtime has finally been unveiled. Per Collider, Chapter 4 reportedly clocks in at 2 hours and 49 minutes. That would make it the longest film in the franchise to date. This, of course, shouldn’t be shocking as director Chad Stahelski promised the newest installment would be the longest one yet.

    We wrote a longer movie. We wrote a bigger movie. We wrote a longer script. We wrote at least a third more scenes than the last one. We expect it to be more. We’ve always expected it to be more. And I think the test, or at least what we’re judging ourselves by, is that worth it with how we executed what we want it to be more or not? And I think the answer’s yes.

    Stahelski to Collider

    For comparisons sake, the first John Wick movie clocked in at 101 minutes. While its sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, clocked in at 122 minutes, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ran 131 minutes. With a reported run time of 169 minutes, Chapter 4 continues the franchise’s trend of bigger sequels.

    You can check the new poster for Chapter 4 below. And be sure to follow along on Twitter as Wick Week continues tomorrow.

    Source: Collider.

  • Bill Skarsgård on the Threat He Provides as the Villain of ‘John Wick 4’

    Bill Skarsgård on the Threat He Provides as the Villain of ‘John Wick 4’

    John Wick’s war against the High Table is set to explode this Spring in John Wick 4. After swearing fealty to the Elder in Parabllum, Wick reneged on his oath when he refused to kill Winston. Now injured and on the run, Wick will have a menacing new villain, Marquis de Gramont, on his heels.

    Bill Skarsgård will bring the “viciously ambitious” Marquis to life and while he may not seem like a match for Baba Yaga, Skarsgård’s character will pose a unique threat to Wick.

    “The Marquis is a young man of unknown origin who has quickly climbed the ladder within the High Table doing god knows what“, says Skarsgård of his villainous new character. “I always saw him as someone from the gutter that now savors the glittery suits he’s wearing,” he added.

    As for the threat he poses to one of the world’s most dangerous assassins, Skarsgård’s Marquis manipulates the “bureaucratic evils” of the High Table to gain leverage over Wick…and attempt to get end his run.

    He functions as the new sheriff set out to rid the world of John Wick once and for all. John’s getting old and tired, the Marquis is offering him a way out. To be the one who finally kills the Baba Yaga would secure his status and power within the High Table.

    Bill Skarsgård

    Of course, The Marquis won’t be the first person trying to make a name for himself by taking out Wick; however, the question fans need to ask is if he will be the last.

    John Wick 4 hits theaters March 24th.

    Source: Total Film

  • Gabriel Byrne Joins The Cast Of ‘John Wick’ Spinoff ‘Ballerina’

    Gabriel Byrne Joins The Cast Of ‘John Wick’ Spinoff ‘Ballerina’

    Lionsgate has begun marketing John Wick: Chapter 4 with a trailer and stills ahead of its re March 2023 release. The creatives behind the franchise have already confirmed that work on a fifth chapter of the John Wick franchise is in the works but the popularity of the character and the deep mythology of the world has already resulted in the birth of a John Wick Cinematic Universe. Two spinoffs within that shared universe, The Continental and Ballerina, are already at various stages of development. Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas, began production last month and now word of a newsworthy addition to its cast has arrived.

    According to Deadline, actor Gabriel Byrne has joined the cast of the Len Wiseman-helmed spinoff. Byrne’s role in the film, which will focus on de Armas’ Rooney, a ballerina/assassin who was briefly seen in John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum, was undisclosed in the report. Byrne joins Anjelica Huston, Norman Reedus and Lance Reddick as new members of the John Wick universe with Ian McShane reprising his role as Winston and Keanu Reeves is also expected to appear in the film, which takes place between Wick 3 and 4.

    Ballerina currently has no release date but is expected to be ready for theaters by late 2023/early 2024.

    Source: Deadline