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Something about me? I have been a nerdy cinephile for as long as I can remember. Putting the two together is living my best life. That notwithstanding, I was born to express, not to impress, so I blog because I don't have friends. In other news, I like hashtags because they look like waffles, prefer my puns intended, and I always give 100% unless I'm donating blood. Thanks for reading.
For years, “Will there be a John Wick 5?” has been a more debated question than the classics like, “When will we be able to debate comic book movies without acting like they’re in US Congress?” or “When are the Kardashians’ 15 minutes going to be up?”
This is real talk since August 2020 when Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer noted during an earnings call that John Wick 4 and 5 were to be shot consecutively and immediately. Since then, even the genre-bending franchise has had some work to do. It all began with Director Chad Stahleski, who refused to shoot John Wick 5 in a back-to-back fashion as his studio head boss suggested two years prior.
“I didn’t feel good about doing 4 and 5 collectively. Keanu [Reeves] calls it the John Wick fever. You haven’t done John Wick for two years and you’re like, ‘We gotta go do something!'”
Chad Stahelski, TotalFilm
At the time, he believed John Wick 5 would require a massive 200-day production. Citing physical and mental exhaustion, Stahelski set that idea to bed at the time. Nothing against doing it, just the scheduling and toll of it. If you watch carefully, each movie ups the ante of dead bodies, physical domination, and one-shot ass-kicking.
Both the crew and the actors have said each following film has been “the hardest movie to shoot…yet!” That includes Keanu Reeves, so Stahelski taps the breaks on delivery.
However, Lionsgate coffers have been filled with more of those fancy gold coins. John Wick: Chapter 4‘s opening weekend was a blitz at $73.8M in 3,855 US theaters. So far, this is a $250.1 global box office smash, so defeating the High Table make take a little longer.
John Wick 5 and Some Dog Day Afternoon
There is no doubt that John Wick 5 would be successful and more thrilling than its predecessors, but it needed the go-ahead. Now, the fifth fight tape has its green light, thanks to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.
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.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Joe Drake, THR, April 2023
Without spoilers (and our fantastic review of the film), there have been questions if the wick is out of the candle. (Thanks. We prefer our puns being intentional here.) There is no telling what will happen from here, but it will take creativity for the story and the fans, as Drake continues to suggest.
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.”
From Winston to the Bowery King, Caine to Harbinger, I think that Derek Kolstad’s John Wick universe could use a fifth adrenaline shot of this non-stop chaos. We shall see when that happens!
Something about me? I have been a nerdy cinephile for as long as I can remember. Putting the two together is living my best life. That notwithstanding, I was born to express, not to impress, so I blog because I don't have friends. In other news, I like hashtags because they look like waffles, prefer my puns intended, and I always give 100% unless I'm donating blood. Thanks for reading.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.