Summary
- Director Chad Stahelski confirms Keanu Reeves is open to doing John Wick 5 but emphasizes that they need a strong story idea to justify returning.
- Stahelski explains that he loves working with Reeves and loves the world of John Wick, but he stresses that they won’t make another sequel just for the sake of making one.
- While John Wick: Chapter 4 provided a satisfying ending for the character, another movie has the potential to surpass its predecessors in both box office success and quality, pushing the boundaries of action cinema.
John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski confirms Keanu Reeves’ stance on John Wick 5 and addresses whether or not the movie will happen. After three successful installments, Reeves returned as the slick assassin for an action-packed fourth movie, which ended up being the most successful of the bunch. Since the film’s release earlier this year, it’s been unclear whether a fifth will actually move forward with Reeves returning.
Now, in a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stahelski clearly explains how Reeves is feeling about returning for John Wick 5.
Stressing just how lucky he feels to be able to make projects that he cares about, especially the John Wick movies, Stahelski confirms that he and Reeves are just waiting for the right idea to come along regarding a fifth movie. Stahelski confirms that he’s already got a number of set piece ideas, it’s just about whether or not they can back these ideas up with a strong story while improving on what they did in John Wick: Chapter 4. Check out Stahelski’s full comment about Reeves below:
“Yeah, Keanu and I have talked. Keanu, if you ask him right now, ‘Would you do John Wick 5?’ He’d be, ‘f–k yeah’. But then he’d look and go, ‘Well, what is it? I have no f–king idea.’ That’s all. Believe me. It’s not like, ‘We’re going to figure it out today.’ Like, look man, we’re going to do our other stuff for a little bit, but if I was driving in the car or if I was walking the dog and an idea hit me, within 30 seconds I’d be on the phone to Keanu and we’d be riffing.”
Is John Wick 5 A Good Idea?
From a financial perspective, John Wick 5 is a no-brainer for Lionsgate, with the company actually having announced the project earlier this year. John Wick: Chapter 4 was not only a hit with critics, but it ended up making $432.2 million worldwide, a franchise record. The franchise has only grown in popularity with each subsequent installment, and there’s nothing to suggest a fifth movie would be any different.
From a storytelling perspective, it’s a little less clear whether another movie is a smart move. John Wick: Chapter 4 gives Reeves’ character a fairly conclusive and satisfying ending, seeing the assassin finally find peace in death. Even though the movie’s final scenes certainly present the death with some ambiguity, leaving the door open for his return, the Wick story concluded with a bang and not a whimper, which another movie would risk undoing.
That being said, each new John Wick movie not only improves on its predecessor from a box office perspective, but, it could be argued, from a quality perspective. The fourth movie might just be the best of the bunch, featuring jaw-dropping and intricately-choreographed action set pieces that are really unequaled in Hollywood. Should Reeves and Stahelski re-team for John Wick 5, it’s entirely possible that it would result in the best movie of the franchise, serving as another big step forward for action cinema more generally.
Source: Josh Horowitz/ YouTube