John Wick: Chapter 4 release date has been pushed back to March24, 2023, Lionsgate announced in a YouTube video published Wednesday.The Keanu Reeves-led action movie is set to arrive a little under a year later than the previous release date of May 27, 2022. John Wick 4 is one of the most anticipated films among the fans of the action genre. Marking the 4th outing for Keanu Reeves as the titular character, this is his second massive franchise.
This news comes despite John Wick 4’s filming being completed back in November. It will reportedly be named John Wick Chapter 4: Hagakure, and will apparently delve “deeper in terms of the code of assassin.” There is no reason given for the delay but the makers confirmed this piece of news.
The studio broke the dissapointing news of the delay in the most charming but nevertheless mildly depressing teaser video featuring the film series’ switchboard operators. The new release date is featured prominently on the chalkboard and on the computer: March 24, 2023, ending with the greeting “Be seeing you,” as cherry blossom tree leaves fell in the background. The latest teaser doesn’t offer much beyond the new date.
Checkout the announcement teaser here:
Chapter 4 was previously slated for release on May 27, 2022 — and that was after a previous yearlong delay for the film. Its original release date was May 21, 2021, the same day The Matrix Resurrections was originally supposed to arrive, before COVID-19 messed up literally everything. According to reports from Deadline, the reason for the delay is two-fold: the first being that further production is required, and the second, and frankly, more absurd reason, is that Lionsgate is trying to avoid having the film compete with Top Gun: Maverick, which is set to hit theaters on May 27, 2022.
John Wick: Chapter 4 was announced the weekend John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum hit movie theaters back in 2019, and when that film set a new box-office record for the franchise. John Wick 3 ended on something of a cliffhanger, with a gravely injured Wick recovering in the care of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) after being gunned down by Winston (Ian McShane) on the roof of the Continental. The third chapter’s final moments sets up Wick’s revenge against The High Table, the mysterious organization that oversees assassins in his assassin-dominated world.
The upcoming Keanu Reeves-led John Wick: Chapter 4 also features Bill Skarsgård, Donnie Yen, Ian McShane, and Laurence Fishburne. The movie is produced by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee and written by Michael Finch and Shay Hatten. The first three movies in the franchise, which racked up over $580 million (roughly Rs. 4,360 crore) worldwide, were directed by Chad Stahelski, who is returning for John Wick: Chapter 4 as well.
John Wick 5 is also in the works and will likely begin filming in 2022, although a production-start date has not been confirmed. There’s also the prequel series The Continental in the works at Starz and reports of Ana de Armas starring in a spin-off titled Ballerina.
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