Since 2014, the John Wick franchise has been lauded for delivering the action movies goods on a consistent basis. With each installment, the series has built up a reliable fanbase for itself, both due to the merits of each film, and its larger ability to take advantage of the star power of leading man Keanu Reeves. And that’s paid off for Lionsgate, because the franchise has now crossed the $1 billion mark.
Per Variety, the threshold was just crossed thanks to March’s John Wick: Chapter 4. At time of writing, tickets sales have hit $1.01 billion, and much of that is thanks to the newest film. To date, Chapter 4 has been the highest earner across all four movies, having earned $426.5 million at time of writing. 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum comes in at second place ($328.35 million), 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 for third ($174.35 million), and the original film bringing up the rear at $86.1 million.
The box office for each film is quadruple what their respective budgets were, so Lionsgate has certainly been getting its money’s worth. In a statement to Variety, the studio’s motion picture chair Joe Drake said he “could not be more grateful to global moviegoers for bringing us to this incredible achievement. This milestone is a testament to the incredible work of Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves, alongside [series executive producers] Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, who have made it their mission to outdo themselves with each successive film in this franchise.”
While Chapter 4 brought the story of John to a close—at least, we think so—Lionsgate isn’t retiring the series. Come September, Peacock will have the prequel TV series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, and Ana de Armas is set to headline a spinoff movie by the name of Ballerina, which will feature Reeves’ Wick in some capacity.
In the meantime, the first three John Wick films are streaming on Peacock or can be bought online. Chapter 4 will have its digital release this Tuesday, May 23, and physical stores on June 13.
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