“John Wick: Chapter 4” has crushed records and led at the top of the box office during its opening weekend. The fourth installment of the “John Wick” series earned nearly $74 million from opening weekend, which set a record for the franchise. The stellar success of the film has even brought discussions of a fifth “John Wick” movie to the table.
For perspective, the original film earned $14 million at the box office, the second film earned $30.4 million, and the third movie in the series brought in $56.8 million. The film reportedly cost over $100 million to produce. However, since its release, the film has already grossed $137.5 million globally. Variety commented on the success of the action movie:
Boosted by positive reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, the fourth installment in Lionsgate’s action series, led by Keanu Reeves as a legendary assassin, landed the best start of the franchise. It’s one of the rare original properties to keep growing and improving upon the last, in terms of ticket sales. The original “John Wick” opened to a modest $14 million in 2014, its sequel “John Wick: Chapter 2” took in $30.4 million to start in 2017 and the third film “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” previously marked a series-high with $56.8 million in 2019.
According to IMBD the plot of “John Wick: Chapter 4” is “John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.” Impressively, “Chapter 4” has also earned a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 95 percent and a Tomatometer of 94 percent. One critic wrote, “If the first John Wick film raised the bar for the spectacle of fight-based storytelling while reinforcing Keanu Reeves as a bona fide action star, JW4 redefines the gold standard for the genre.” Another review read, Watch the film for its never-seen-before action sequences, as also for the pleasure of watching two masters of action, Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen, giving their best to the film.”
“This is a superb opening,” said David A. Gross of consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Each of the ‘John Wick’ sequels has shown big growth. It’s outstanding.” Joe Drake, an executive at Lionsgate, said, “The ‘John Wick’ brand is an anomaly. The results are speaking for themselves. We expect a big multiple.”
Drake also spoke of a possible future installment of the John Wick series, “It’s more than tempting. I’m not going to give up hope there can’t be a ‘Wick 5.’” He also hinted that there is “at least one other spinoff in the works.” Drake also said, “There’s a will and there’s an openness. And you could certainly interpret that ending in different ways. 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.”
Drake further noted, “Keanu and Chad, rightly so, are very protective about never screwing with the audience. 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.”
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