Like any successful franchise, John Wick has grown bigger with each subsequent installment. The first film cost a thrifty $20 million and pulled in $86 million at the box office, before word of mouth saw the fanbase exponentially increase as viewers rushed to check out what was lauded as one of the best action movies in years.
Chapter 2 didn’t break the bank, either, but the $40 million sequel found its commercial success roughly double its predecessor after it earned $171 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Chapter 3 – Parabellum significantly increased the production costs to a hefty $75 million, but it once again nearly doubled the gross of the one that came before, topping out at $326 million and establishing itself as a genuine blockbuster series in the process.
While it’s unrealistic to expect Chapter 4 to keep up the track record of each new Wick earning twice as much as the last, it’s still going to do major business when it hits theaters in May of next year, and it’s poised to cost a lot more as well, with Lionsgate keen to pull out all of the stops to deliver. Keanu Reeves has already pitched up in Germany with the shoot also set to hit France and Japan before heading back to the States, so it looks as though we’re in store for a globetrotting adventure.
In fact, we’ve now heard form our sources – the same ones who told us Chapter 5 was in development before it was officially announced – that the next outing for the titular assassin is going to be the biggest and boldest one yet, with “insane action scenes” to boot. While a John Wick movie raising the stakes in terms of action is hardly a shocking revelation, it does indicate that the absence of longtime writer Derek Kolstad might not be as keenly felt as many were thinking, with replacement Michael Finch set to pick up from where Kolstad left off by apparently continuing to up the ante.
