John Wick 2 Loses Co-Director David Leitch To Charlize Theron Spy Movie

2014's John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves as a retired hitman out for vengeance, was a nice sleeper-hit that proved Keanu still had some star-power. It earned $78M at the worldwide box office, against a $20M budget.

The action-thriller was co-directed by David Leitch and Chad Stahelski. Both were set to return for the sequel, which begins filming next month in Budapest and Berlin, but Leitch has just announced that he is leaving the project to go work on The Coldest City, a spy movie starring Charlize Theron. Now Chad Stahelski will have to captain the John Wick 2 ship all by himself.

First word of Leitch's departure from the project came a few weeks ago from Collider and now it has been confirmed by the trades.

An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, JOHN WICK (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre".

(via variety)