John Wick: Chapter 4 is garnering unanimous praise for being the best in the franchise, with some even saying it’s one of the best action movies ever. Very seldom does such hype happen for a fourth movie in a franchise. However, as we’ve seen before…John Wick doesn’t play by the rules. Deadline is reporting that the newest outing by Keanu Reeves and the team at 87eleven is tracking to have the biggest opening in the series with $115 million globally.
If this is to be the conclusion of Keanu’s Wick, then it makes perfect sense how big they are going with the action and why it’s getting such stellar reactions. It has the best aggregate rating of any of the entries at Rotten Tomatoes with a certified fresh 93%. More audiences may also turn out partly due to the very tragic and untimely passing of series star, Lance Reddick, to pay their respects and support his latest project. Reddick was about to go on the promotional tour when he suddenly died last week. The Los Angeles premiere of the film showed a huge gesture of love with tributes to him with the attendees sporting royal blue ribbons and giving Reddick a standing ovation in celebration of his work and his life.
The franchise started with a humble mid-budget film and exploded in popularity, giving each sequel a bigger budget to use for grander sequences. This film is booked at 3,800 theaters, which includes 1,675 in IMAX, premium screens, and 4D experiences. Thursday previews begin at 3 pm. The last installment, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, is the current series-best with an overall take of $588.7 million worldwide. It opened domestically at $56.8 million. The new film is on track to shotgun blast that record.
What’s even more amazing is the fact that it is an unapologetic R-rated movie, which weren’t big money makers for the action genre since the 90s, with a few exceptions like Reeves’ other big franchise, the Matrix series. Other films that broke that mold in recent years would include movies like the Deadpool series and Joker. Studios nowadays aim for the sweet spot in PG-13, where a movie can be appealing to both kids and adults and broaden their audience as much as possible. John Wick: Chapter 4 will additionally open in more global markets than the last one. Chapter 3 opened in 65 territories, whereas Chapter 4 will open to 71 territories to give it more an advantage.