Spoiler: This post contains a major spoiler for John Wick: Chapter 4.
John Wick returned to theaters for the first time in four years this weekend, but the event was bittersweet. That’s right, the world’s favorite puppy avenger eats it at the end of his fourth adventure. Keanu Reeves will be back, however briefly, in the forthcoming spinoff Ballerina. But clearly that’s not enough for Lionsgate, the films’ distributor.
As per Deadline, Joe Drake, the company’s group chair, was so thrilled that the fourth Wick made a fortune — $73.5 million domestically, $137.5 worldwide — that he can’t bear the idea of losing their biggest cash cow.
“We’re not ready to say goodbye to Keanu with this franchise,” Drake told Deadline. He and his team are already dreaming up an “alternative,” adding, “There’s a lot of different things that we can do.”
It’s not just all the money John Wick 4 has made. It’s how much it entertains people. “I’ve seen this movie five times in the last week,” Drake said. “I can see the way that the audience moves him.”
In a recent interview, series director Chad Stahelski said Lionsgate honchos were shocked when he revealed they were going to kill off the company’s most popular character. “The response was, ‘What are you f*cking thinking?’ The note was, ‘Are you f*cking insane?’” he recalled. “And Keanu and I just smiled and said, ‘Yeah.’ We decided we wanted to tie everything together, and we were like, ‘How do you give a proper goodbye?’ So that’s how we sold it to the studio because, at some point, this has gotta end, man.”
Well, apparently not.
(Via Deadline)
