John Wick has quickly become Lionsgate’s most lucrative franchise, with the three movies featuring Keanu Reeves’ suit-wearing master assassin earning almost $600 million at the box office. The recent third installment turned out to be the seventh highest-grossing film the studio has ever released, and it looks like they plan on staying in the Wick business for some time yet.
Lionsgate’s five biggest hits all hailed from the Hunger Games franchise, leaving the studio on the lookout for another series that they could rely on to bring in a steady stream of box office dollars once Katniss Everdeen’s big-screen adventures came to an end, and it looks like John Wick is taking up that mantle. The brand is only set to expand in the coming years, too, with Chapter 4 set for May 2021, along with the Len Wiseman-directed prequel Ballerina and Starz TV show The Continental also in active development.
It hardly comes as a surprise then that the studio are keen on a fifth installment in the mainline series, given that each sequel so far has earned considerably more than its predecessor while also maintaining an incredibly high level of critical acclaim. And while a green light hasn’t been given just yet, sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us the leads in Ghostbusters 3 would be young teens, and that Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan – say that Lionsgate is very interested in continuing on with the series for a while yet and fully plan on doing a John Wick 5.
Of course, the franchise also played a huge part in Reeves’ recent career renaissance into one of the most popular stars in the entire industry, despite the R-rated and incredibly violent nature of the expertly-choreographed action epics. The 55 year-old actor hasn’t been shy in proclaiming his love for suiting up and kicking ass as the title character, and churning out more John Wick movies certainly fits his recent penchant for signing on to more sequels than ever before, with Reeves recently appearing in Toy Story 4, with long-awaited threequel Bill & Ted Face the Music set for next year, before he immediately moves on to the fourth installment in the Matrix franchise.
