‘John Wick 5’ Confirmed With Keanu Reeves, Shooting Back to Back With ‘John Wick 4’

John Wick has become the most critically-acclaimed and fan-praised action movie franchise for the new millennium, and it was announced today that series will have a fifth film. Additionally, the Keanu Reeves-starring flick may be shooting back to back with John Wick 4. According to Deadline, Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer revealed the plans on Thursday, during a company earnings call.

“We’re also busy preparing scripts for the next two installments of our John Wick action franchise, with John Wick 4 slated to hit theaters Memorial Day weekend 2022,” said Feltheimer. “We hope to shoot both John Wick 4 & 5 back to back when Keanu becomes available early next year.” Currently John Wick 4 is scheduled to be released on May 27, 2022. John Wick 5 does not have an announced released date. As Deadline notes, it makes perfect sense for Lionsgate to put a lot of their eggs in the John Wick basket, as it were, because the franchise has on nearly doubled its revenue with each sequel so far. The first John Wick came out in 2012, and made over $88 million on a budget of less than $30 million. The second film in the franchise — John Wick: Chapter 2 — opened in 2017, and made over $170 million on a $40 million budget.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum premiered in 2019, and raked in a worldwide revenue of more than $325 million on a budget of less than $75 million. Collectively, the three John Wick films alone have made the franchise over a half-billion dollars. This is on a combined budget of somewhere under $145 million. To say that the franchise is lucrative is quite the understatement.

However, it’s not just financial success that keeps the franchise going as each film has also been increasingly heralded by film critics. As far as Rotten Tomatoes scores go, all three films are Certified Fresh, with John Wick at 87%, John Wick: Chapter 2 at 89%, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum at 90%. In 2017, a five-issue prequel comic book series was released, telling the story of a young John Wick after his prison release. There is also a forthcoming TV series spin-off, The Continental, which will focus in the franchises’ fictional assassin-hotel. Finally, a film spin-off is in the works, titled Ballerina. Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Suspiria) is reportedly being considered for the lead role.