The First Look At ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Confirms That, Yes, The Movie Has An Out-Of-Control Candle Budget

It’s impossible – and frankly, irresponsible — to imagine the John Wick franchise without Keanu Reeves. But as we learned yesterday, the dog-loving assassin was originally written for an elderly actor. Someone like Clint Eastwood was the top choice, but producer Basil Iwanyk eventually realized, “I’m not sure how I put this movie together. But the tone of the script for John Wick was subversive and really fun. It has a very clear emotional through line and a great premise for an action movie.”

It was a great premise for three action movies, actually. And soon, four.

Lionsgate has revealed the first look at John Wick: Chapter 4, the direct sequel to 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The photo shows Reeves dressed in black and surrounded by candles, because his name is John Wick and candles have wicks, you see. There’s no reported budget for John Wick: Chapter 4, but if it’s $75 million, like Chapter 3, at least $20 million was spent on candles. Honestly? It was worth every cent.

John Wick: Chapter 4, which also stars Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and hopefully the return of the Tick Tock Man, Jason Mantzoukas, opens on March 24, 2023.