John Wick 5 has officially been anounced during a Lionsgate earnings call, and with this news
coming, there are some other smaller details that I wanted to discuss surrounding the
eventual sequel or prequel to chapter 4.
This includes my brief theories for a fifth film and also whether I think it's actually
a good idea.
Before I get into it though, if you want to see more videos on the future John Wick films
and spinoffs, then don't forget to support this video by giving it a like rating, subscribing
to the channel and turning on your notifications.
But without further a do, lets dive into the announcement of a John Wick 5.
So while it's currently known that John Wick was not alive by the end of chapter 4, the
series as a whole is ready to move into a new gear of spinoffs and prequels featuring
characters we know and new characters too.
However, in the time since the fourth movie, Director Chad Stahelski had hinted that the
series would continue in multiple interviews.
And now yesterday, during Lionsgate's Q4 earnings call, the Motion
Picture Group chairman Joe Drake confirmed that another John Wick film is in early development,
and alongside this, he confirmed that there are plans to expand the the Wick saga into
spin-offs, even more television series, and also video games.
Drake said, "we're now moving across that franchise, not just in the AAA video
game space, but looking at what the regular cadence of spin-offs, television really growing
that universe so that there is a steady cadence of a franchise that there's clear appetite
by the audience.
What is official is that, as you know, Ballerina is the first spinoff that comes out next year.
We're in development on three others, including John Wick 5 and including
television series.
The Continental will be airing soon.
And so, we're building out the world and when that fifth movie comes, it will be organic
-- it will be organically grown out of how we're starting to tell those stories.
But you can rely on a regular cadence of John Wick."
Now we know that John Wick: Chapter 4 had blown away audiences with its action and it
also smashed box office records for the series,
with the main character finally letting go of his vengeance against the high table.
Given the huge success of Chapter 4, it's understandable
that any studio would want to greenlight another film.
But when it comes to the story, is that really the greatest of ideas.
Before I get into my conflicting thoughts on this, lets first
discuss the current theories over what direction they could take with a John Wick 5.
So at the end of chapter 4, following John's eleborate plan to kill the high table's marquis
with his final bullet, we watch him collapse on the stairs of the Sacre Coeur, dying and
also dreaming of his dead wife Helen.
Wick had stated that he'd like his gravestone to say nothing more than "John Wick, loving
husband", and we cut to that very image, with Winston and the
Bowery King visiting John's gravesite.
The Bowery King wonders whether Wick is currently in "heaven or hell" and Winston's response
was, "Who knows", followed by a slight smirk on his
face and Wick's pitbull running off to look at someone or something in the distance.
This is of course just speculation, because to a good chunk of the audience, this also
seemed like a fitting end for John Wick's story, one that
actually isn't setting up anything to come with the main character.
But there are a few other that fans noted which could suggest that this
actually isn't the full end to this story.
On top of the main ending hints, it was spotted by some fans that Winston calls John son in
russian and that he also has a cross tatoo on his
arm, leading to the theories that John could either be his son in law or that Winston was
at some point apart of the Ruska Roma, John's previous family, who he once again becomes
connected to in Chapter 4.
There were also speculations years ago that Winston might actually be Helen's father,
and John being seen as his son in law.
Hence the smirk at the end, Winston's response and the dog looking at
something in the distance.
Of course, these are all just theories and Chad Stahelski and those involved with the
Wick films may have ended it like that to intentionally bring up these
building questions.
Now when I watched the film and did my breakdown I honestly didn't catch some of these crazy
links that people are bringing up and I thought it was quite a fitting end
for the story of John Wick.
How do you go bigger than what we saw and take the story in an interesting direction
after making a lot of the audience believe that that was the end.
It could become too much of parody in the sense of something like fast and furious,
where we get more insane action and the franchise becomes
driven more by money than it is the storytelling.
Again though, setting up a John Wick 5 may have all been intentional, and for all we
know, the next film could be either a final nail
in the Wick story or it might even be a prequel or set in a different time before.
But to make the audience really care about Wick and the central story at play I think
it only makes sense that this be set after the events of
chapter 4 as the other projects that are on the horizon are the ones that are filling
in the gaps.
With the Lionsgate ceo hinting that the upcoming projects will set up a John Wick
5, it does make me think even more that this is going to be set after the events of Chapter
4.
So with that in mind and having mixed thoughts towards it, my only theory right now is that
these connections to winston and the smirk he delivers at the end is actually the truth
in what's going on.
If I was to have an early guess it would be that John's death is covered up
by Winston so that the high table or anyone else who was originally after him can't affect
him anymore.
But then in a 5th film, you would think that someone else or other main high table
members dig up something that leads back to John, or in reverse John finds something out
that makes him come out of hiding and take a final
stand against the rest of the table.
Now this is just throwing stuff at the wall because I honestly have no idea what way they
are going to take this, and I think it will probabaly be
more clear after weve seen both The Continental and that Ballerina spinoff film.
But when it comes to whether John Wick 5 is a good idea, like I said before, I personally
thought the ending to chapter 4 was a perfect goodbye for that main character.
It had meaning in that John had finally joined his wife,
and then also leaves us with questions like whether he went to heaven or hell, which I
think is more effective by being unanswered.
Even the slight hope that John Wick isn't dead, to
me feels more effective in the way they ended chapter 4, rather than doing a 5th movie and
going again, even after having such a great ending.
It reminded me a bit of The Dark Knight Rises ending, where the subtle ambiguity surrounding
Bruce Wayne worked as a perfect ending rather than one which would create another film,
in turn, killing that conclusive storytelling
power.
They left it alone and to me that ending gets even better on rewatch because when watching
it as a trilogy it answers the story of Batman becoming a heroic symbol in death or if he's
still alive, he can have more peace in the future.
So with a John Wick 5, I think it would take an ending comparable to that and in turn,
it could become quite silly.
Look I do think that if Chad Stahelski and the creators have a great story plan to pull
off another John Wick and if the narrative takes an interesting turn
that we as the audience can really connect too, then I'm sure it could out great.
But man, after watching chapter 4, I honestly thought that ending was a perfect metaphorical
summary of John Wick's story and I struggle to see how
they can make a chapter 5 work after that ending.
I guess we'll just have to see how the next few projects lead into a fifth film, and to
be fair, this does become especially true when
we consister what Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski have said about the upcoming spinoffs in multiple
interviews.
Last year, during the an event in Brazil, Keanu Reeves said that Ballerina is set in
the time period between John Wick 3 and Chapter 4, and director Chad Stahelski confirmed that
the events of that film will take place within
that six-month window between both films.
It was also confirmed that Reeves is returning to play Wick in Ballerina, and that his role
is apaprently much more than just a small cameo.
We also know that both Ian McShane and Lance Reddick will reprise their roles in that film
too.
And on top of the Ballerina film, which is releasing in 2024, we've got a prequel series
coming this year, with that previously announced Continental series, which will follow a young
Winston in a grimy 1970s New York.
With Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake saying
in his earnings call yesterday that these spinoff and prequel projects will set the
landscape for a John Wick 5, then when it comes to
the story and whether this is a good idea, we will apparently only know after we've seen
those projects.
It's probabaly going to be a while before we see a John Wick 5 anyway as we need
to get through both The Continental in 2023 and Ballerina in 2024, so I would guess at
the earliest we'd likely see it between 2025 and 2026.
We'll just have to see which route they go, and hopefully, a John Wick 5 can put my concerns
to bed surrounding whether it is a good idea for the story.
But that was my video discussing the confirmation of John Wick 5.
With it now in early development and chapter 4 opening up many possibilities for the extension
of this world beyond John Wick, it's going to be interesting to
see what route they go in by the time we see that next main feature.
Again, I loved chapter 4 and do have faith in the filmmaker and people
involved to make another great film, but at the same time, I'm still cautious over whether
this is actually the right move, especially as I felt that the last film had a perfect
ending for John Wick.
We'll have to see, but at the moment, it seems that Lionsgate are going full steam ahead
with a fifth John Wick film.
But let me know down below in the comments section
what your thoughts are on the announcement of a John Wick 5, and if you would want to
see it, what are your theories on where this story could go.
For more videos and news surrounding the John Wick saga, then subscribe to the channel and
turn on your notifications.
Also if you enjoyed this video remember to leave a like rating and
follow me on social media via the links in the description.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.