At the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, there’s a moment where the assassin’s pit bull quickly glances to the right next to his owner’s grave while Winston and The Bowery King pay their respects that gave a hint to Keanu Reeves’s Wick still being alive. It’s that small amount of juice that Lionsgate will squeeze a fifth film out of.
At CinemaCon this past week, it was announced that John Wick 5 is in development, along with a prequel that details “the impossible task” that helped him get out of the game to live a happy life with Helen, and a spin-off with Donnie Yen’s assassin, Caine. Coupled with the upcoming Ana de Armas-led spinoff coming this spring titled Ballerina, and you have a studio quickly becoming the house that Mr. Wick built.
One great thing about the prequel: It’ll be animated and stylishly produced with Reeves lending his voice and possibly some new faces coming into the series, which may end up playing a part in Chapter 5.
More of this isn’t a bad thing. It’s fine and perfectly normal to milk a cash cow for more goods. After all, these are star-driven action movies made at a high level. Instead of quick cuts and sloppy editing, the action sequences in the Wick movies are specifically designed to show us the movie star doing all the work and taking the damage. As long as director Chad Stahelski (Reeves’s stunt man on The Matrix movies) and his ageless star can accomplish that, these movies have something to give.
In a brand new, audio only, podcast, I take a dive into the new announcements and discuss what could come and the risks involved with dipping toes back into the Wick waters after such a soulful and complete finale in Chapter 4. Listen, love or like, and please consider subscribing.
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