Fret not, John Wick is alive and well. He’s so alive that Lionsgate is going wild by expanding the franchise in multiple ways. Their presentation at CinemaCon was loaded up with new projects, the most prominent of all is, yep, John Wick: Chapter 5.
John Wick: Chapter 5 is officially a go, with Keanu Reeves returning as the titular hitman who looked as if he was dead at the conclusion of John Wick: Chapter 4. That film earned $440M worldwide so he’s going to need to stay upright a while longer. Chad Stahelski returns as director, part of an expanded role as overseer of the entire franchise.
A few months ago we teased the possibility of Donnie Yen directing the Caine spinoff movie that was in the works. Today it’s been made official. Yen will return to play the badass blind assassin, with events following the completion of his obligations to the High Table at the end of John Wick 4. The film will have a script by Mattson Tomlin, known for writing The Batman and The Batman II for Matt Reeves. Yen has previously directed himself in The Prosecutor and Sakra, so he knows what he’s doing behind the camera.
That’s not all. An animted prequel film is also on the way from director Shannon Tindle. The film will have a screenplay by Vanessa Taylor. Reeves will return to voice Wick, who in the story sets out to accomplish the Impossible Task of killing his foes in a single night to meet his obligations to the High Table. Franchise director Chad Stahelski is overseeing this one, as well. Tindle recently co-directed Ultraman: Rising for Netflix.
Stahelski said, “I’ve always been fascinated with anime. It has always been a huge influence on me, especially with the John Wick series. To have the opportunity to develop a John Wick anime seems to be the perfect progression for the John Wick world. I feel John Wick is the perfect property for this medium — anime holds the potential to expand our world, our characters, and our action in ways unimaginable before.”
Lionsgate is going all in on John Wick. The next spinoff film is Ballerina starring Ana de Armas, which opens on June 6th. We’ve previously seen the Peacock series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, and another show, John Wick: Under the High Table, is in the works.
