John Wick Chapter 5, Animated Movie, and Spin-Off in the Works! My Thoughts!
CinemaCon continues, which means we’ve gotten several updates and announcements on upcoming movies. A couple days back, Lionsgate had their panel at the event. One of the big focus points of it was the John Wick franchise. During this announcement they announced or gave updates about the John Wick related projects coming in the future. Let’s talk about it!
John Wick Chapter 5
The first thing to talk about here is the official announcement that John Wick Chapter 5 is in the works. This has sort of been rumored and commented on ever since John Wick Chapter 4 came out. Prior to the film’s release the director, Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves said this is the final film in the franchise. If you’ve seen that movie it’s very clear why it’s the final film in the franchise. Then the opening weekend numbers came in and pretty soon after that they basically said that conversations about a fifth film have started. At The CinemaCon event they confirmed that Keanu Reeves is back in the suit playing John Wick once again. I’m a newer fan to this franchise, I watched all of the movies leading up to John Wick Chapter 4. I really dug all of the movies, all of them were great and exciting action movies. If the creative team is returning and they have a story they want to tell then I’m excited for it.
I will say that I’m excited for it but I don’t know if it’s necessary. SPOILER ALERT for John Wick Chapter 4 but John Wick died at the end of the movie. I sort of wish these Hollywood franchises would let the characters stay dead. I get that John Wick Chapter 4 printed money for the studio, it ended on what a lot of people consider the franchise’s best. In that sense I want to do another movie especially if Stahelski and Reeves are comfortable and like the story. But I feel we’re going to reach a point where it’s hard to take anybody’s death seriously. I loved Deadpool & Wolverine from last year but Logan was a great sendoff to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. I don’t think Deadpool & Wolverine ruined the legacy of Logan. But sometimes when a hero gets a satisfying death you want them to say dead. I know it’s a multiverse and likely playing a different character but that’s sort of what it feels like with Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU.
One of my most anticipated movies of the summer is Ballerina. They did such a good job with world building that it lends itself to spinoffs. I like that we’re getting Ballerina and more spin-offs announced that we’ll talk about later. But I’d rather have multiple more spin-offs with new stories rather than another assassin adventure with John Wick. Like I said, the fact that Stahelski and Reeves are back makes me excited. I trust them to deliver a kick-ass action movie. But right now, does this movie feel necessary? No. But with more plot details and maybe once we see Ballerina, I’ll get more excited for it.
Donnie Yen’s Caine Spin-Off
Keeping in line with John Wick Chapter 4, the stand-out character introduced in that movie was Donnie Yen’s Caine. Donnie Yen is a martial arts legend that’s done some iconic martial arts films over the years. Seeing him going up against Keanu Reeves was great and I loved his character in that movie. About a year ago they announced that this movie was happening with Donnie Yen returning. What’s interesting is at CinemaCon they said that Yen would also be directing the film. I don’t believe he’s ever directed anything before. That’s sort of interesting, I’m excited to see more of Donnie Yen’s character, maybe he’ll show up in John Wick Chapter 5.
In John Wick Chapter 4 they easily set up where you can go with Caine’s story. There’s a clear history with this character in this world. Clearly, they had another story they wanted to tell with this character. With all of the said, I don’t want him to be front and center. In John Wick Chapter 4 we learn a lot about him and his relationship with John Wick. I’d almost like him to appear in other people’s movies, not his own. While we do learn a certain amount about him I don’t want to know too much about him. I think we know a little bit but there’s a lot of mystery. I don’t want every John Wick spinoff to be connected to John Wick. What people have said about Star Wars over the years is stop telling stories in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. I feel some of that logic can apply to this franchise. They built out all of these fractions in this world filled with assassins, we know other assassins are out there. So let’s tell another story in this universe that’s not connected to John Wick, maybe John Wick isn’t even mentioned. I’m a bit conflicted on this one, I’m happy we’re getting spin-offs. Donnie Yen’s Caine isn’t the spinoff I would do.
Animated Prequel Film
This was the final project released to John Wick that was announced at CinemaCon. This is one that kind of goes back to what I said about John Wick Chapter 5, I don’t feel this is totally necessary. In the original John Wick it’s established that John Wick has a past in this world. He’s been an assassin for a long time. At face value it makes sense that the studio would want a prequel focused on John Wick’s life before the original film. Especially if we can see Wick’s relationship with his wife that could be very interesting. I get the story there is to tell and why they would want to tell it. BUT, this feels a bit like them milking the John Wick franchise. They saw the amount of money that John Wick Chapter 4 brought to the studio and wanted more. This is a typical Hollywood thing to do they see on successful and are hopeful they make multiple more successful movies. I don’t want them to turn John Wick corporate, I want them to stay simple and the quality of the current four films. Maybe this movie will be good, if it has the same creative I guarantee it’ll be good. But it feels unnecessary and content for content sake.
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