Weekend Box Office: John Wick: Chapter 4 opens with franchise record $73.5 Million

Last Updated on November 21, 2023

Last week we asked what went wrong with Shazam! Fury of the Gods this week we get to ask what went right with John Wick: Chapter 4 as the film blew past studio estimates to a franchise best $73.5 million opening. That opening puts it just $13 million shy of passing the entire worldwide gross of the first film. I think in the pantheon of Keanu Reeves’ films, The Matrix may have changed movie making forever but the sequels could never quite live up to that first film, with John Wick you have a franchise that not just maintained its quality, but actually improved on it with each film. That’s even more impressive when you consider the films director, Chad Shahelski, has only ever directed the John Wick films after earning a name for himself as a stunt performer and coordinator on films such as The Crow (where he stood in for Brandon Lee after the tragic on set accident that took the stars life), Orgazmo (where I can only assume he was one of the stunt “performers”) and The Matrix films where he met Reeves who would one day call him and fellow stunt performer David Leitch, to choreograph the stunts for a new film, that Stahelski and Leitch would then decide to use as their feature directorial debuts. While Leitch has gone on to direct such excellent films as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Saw and last years Bullet Train, Stahelski remained with the Wick films and helped form one of the greatest franchises of the modern cinematic age.

The film has received incredibly strong reviews from critics and fans alike (including a perfect 10/10 from our own JimmyO) and rightfully so, it is a truly amazing piece of filmmaking that may have redefined the action genre as we know it. It is a shame films like this don’t get remembered come Awards season, as this one should 100% be in the conversation for its cinematography. Whether it is circling bad guys in a doorless muscle car or one of the coolest overhead scenes I have ever witnessed, this film is filled with stuff you have never seen before.

Of course the success of this release comes with a tinge of sadness as one of the franchises main stars, Lance Reddick who played Hotel Manager Charon, sadly passed away just last week at the far too young age of 60. I can think of no better tribute to a performer who has shown such versatility and talent throughout his career than to have this film be the biggest one of his storied career. The good news is it doesn’t appear this will be the last time we get to see Reddick play the calm cool Charon, as he appears to have filmed something for the upcoming Ana De Armas John Wick spinoff film Ballerina which is currently in post production.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods looks to be taking a tumble in its second week dropping a spot to second place with an estimated $9.7 million which represents a sizable 68% drop from its opening, which was already a lackluster number. There is a lot out there about what went wrong with the film, from Dwayne Johnson sabotaging any sort of cross over (although, Black Adam wasn’t a good movie either, so I’m not sure how combining two not very good movies would make a good movie?!) to poor marketing, but at the end of the day Shazam! Fury of the Gods was just an extremely mediocre movie which is a shame as the first film was really quite good. Perhaps if when they made this one they had known that the entire DCEU was completely bust, they could have focused more on making this sequel more like the first and less about connecting to any sort of universe that made the film, in hindsight, completely irrelevant. Whatever the case may be, it will be very interesting to see how films such as The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom fare at the box office. I’ll be honest, I think Blue Beetle and Aquaman are lost causes at this point, The Flash is the only one I can see working and that is 100% because of Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck returning to their roles as Batman, at this point in time I don’t think anyone really wants to see Ezra Miller on the big screen (for more on that check out our You Tube video WTF Happened to Ezra Miller.) Coming in third place is Scream VI with an estimated take of $8.4 million which is a steady third week drop of 52% as the film continues its climb to ultimately become the highest grossing film in the franchise at the domestic box office (it just needs $14 million more to pass the $103 million of the 1996 original).

Fourth and fifth place belong to Creed III as it continues its big screen run with an additional $8.3 million added to its impressive $140.8 million domestic box office. Not too shabby for a rookie director (of course it helps to have your first project be part of one of the biggest and most enduring franchises in movie history!) While fifth place goes to the Sam Raimi produced 65 with $3.2 million, which despite some pretty abysmal reviews (including a slightly better than most 6/10 from our own Chris Bumbray) has seen relatively small drops week to week (which isn’t hard to do when you open with just $12.3 million).

The remainder of the list are the titles we have grown accustomed to seeing the past few weeks with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania adding $2.4 million to its $209.8 million domestic total followed by Cocaine Bear adding $2.09 million to its $62.1 million total. The faith based Jesus Revolution continues to stick around after five weeks of release with an additional $2 million added to its solid $49.03 million domestic total. While the Woody Harrelson fronted Champions adds $1.5 million to its run and Avatar: The Way of Water potentially has its final week in the top ten with $1.4 million added to its massive $680.4 million domestic total. 

Outside the top ten is the Zach Braff directed A Good Person starring Florence Pugh with a reported $834,000. The film has received middle of the road review that say despite good performances the film is a bit of a slog to get through (although our own Chris Bumbray liked it enough to give it a 7/10 in his review.) While the team behind the Oscar nominated Philomena returned to screens this weekend with The Lost King which despite solid reviews failed to make a dent at the box office with an estimated $575,000 thousand weekend, equating to a little over $763 per theater.

Were you able to see John Wick: Chapter 4 this weekend? If so, let us know what you thought in the comments section and don’t forget to take our weekly poll where we ask: What your favorite Revenge movie is.