John Wick: Chapter 4 Breaks Franchise Box Office Record in Previews

John Wick: Chapter 4 has blasted off to an amazing start at the box office. Thursday night previews for the new Keanu Reeves movie came in at $8.9 million. Lionsgate must be thrilled with the numbers. John Wick: Chapter 4 is actually in line to eclipse John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum’s lofty total of $56.8 million in its first weekend. Every entry has steadily built and this one is no different. Industry estimates have John Wick: Chapter 4 at $65-$70 million for this weekend. Questions still remain if this entry can end up out earning its predecessor, who brought in an eye-popping $328.3 million across the globe. Poor Shazam! Fury of the Gods looks to be in some major trouble considering the strength of this challenger.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, director Stahelski said that another entry will end up working itself out. “In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest,” Stahelski revealed. “I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. Wicks always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan. It’s always like, three months later. If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’ We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.”

How Good Is John Wick: Chapter 4?

Comicbook.com’s Patrick Cavanaugh liked his time with John Wick: Chapter 4. In his review for the site, he pointed out how the scale of these movies have inflated over time. It’s hard to remember that the first John Wick started with the relatively low stakes of stolen car and a dead dog. Things have ballooned a bit with each successive entry in the franchise. 

“In the original John Wick, the titular reformed assassin lost his wife to a terminal illness, as well as the puppy she left him to help grieve her loss in the opening act, igniting a path of revenge towards to people responsible for taking away the last gift his late wife gave him,” Cavanaugh explained. “In the years since that debut film, Keanu Reeves’ Wick has grown entangled in the underworld of a network of hired killers, with each installment adding new layers to the mythology and director Chad Stahelski pushing the film’s high-octane stunts to new heights. With John Wick: Chapter 4, Stahelski and Reeves have somehow managed to amplify the adrenaline of previous installments to dizzying new heights, with its only setback being narrative convolutions.”

Are you surprised by these results from John Wick: Chapter 4? Let us know down in the comments!