Keanu Reeves Returning For John Wick 5 And An Animated Prequel Movie
The world of John Wick is expanding in a bunch of different directions. Lionsgate announced plans for three new movies, including John Wick 5 which will once again star Keanu Reeves and be directed by franchise director Chad Stahelski.
During CinemaCon 2025, as reported by Variety, Lionsgate officially confirmed that John Wick 5 has entered development and that Reeves, who has portrayed the deadly assassin in every film, will return once again as Wick. Previously, Lionsgate had confirmed it wanted to make a new John Wick sequel, but it wasn't certain if Stahelski and Reeves would return. Now, it's official: The gang is getting back to together to make John Wick Chapter 5.
'Keanu, Chad, [and producers] Basil and Erica would not return unless they had something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world,' said Adam Fogelson, boss of Lionsgate's movies division. 'We can't wait for audiences to see where the journey takes us next.'
No release window or synopsis for John Wick 5 was provided by Lionsgate.
Meanwhile, the company also announced the long-rumored Caine spin-off. First appearing in John Wick: Chapter 4, Caine is a blind assassin who gives Wick a run for his money and has his own sad backstory. The character was played by martial artist, actor, and filmmaker Donnie Yen. And Lionsgate confirmed that Yen is back in the spin-off and will be directing and producing the standalone action movie. The Caine spin-off will start production later this year in Hong Kong.
Finally, Lionsgate also announced a new animated prequel set before the events of the original John Wick movie. This new animated spin-off will feature a younger Wick and the plan is to have Reeves voice the character. The just-announced animated flick, aimed at more mature audiences, will reveal what the 'Impossible Task' was and how Wick pulled it off. In the franchise, the impossible task has been alluded to before, but basically all we know is that Wick somehow killed a ton of powerful people in one night to earn his freedom.
Besides all that, Lionsgate is releasing Ballerina, a spin-off movie starring Ana de Armas, in June. The late Lance Reddick will appear in the spin-off in one of his final film roles. Reeves is also set to reprise the character of John Wick in that movie, too. Oh and there's a new TV show in the works as well. I hope you are excited for more John Wick, because you are getting a ton more over the next few years.
.
For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
2 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Jonathan Bailey Recalls Awkward Moment In "Wicked"
Jonathan Bailey has admitted he and his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande had a bit of an awkward moment when they were still getting to know one another. The British actor plays Fieryo in both Wicked and its much-hyped sequel, shooting both films back-to-back in a rather hectic time for his career, during which he was also making the TV shows Bridgerton and Fellow Travellers. As a result, Jonathan told British GQ that his rehearsal time on the movie was rather limited, with the Emmy nominee having just three days to prepare before filming began. 'I remember having four hours to learn how to do a dance move,' he explained. 'I did it with Ari, headbutted her, and was like, 'Gotta go!'' He quipped: 'I think she might have even headbutted me, but it was a meeting of minds, literally.' Fortunately, despite the literal tête-à-tête, he and the "Twilight Zone" singer went on to forge a strong friendship, at one point even attending Wimbledon together during their Wicked downtime. Last year, Jonathan spoke candidly about the toll that shooting multiple projects at the same time took on one particular aspect of his appearance. He claimed that having a perm for Bridgerton and a straight do for Fellow Travellers left his hair 'looking like coral' – and as a result, he had to sport a 'big old toupée' to play Fiyero in Wicked. 'I'm in the choreography so it's flapping about!' he joked to Variety during an Actors On Actors interview with Naomi Watts. Wicked For Good sees Jonathan once again sharing the screen with the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh, in the movie adaptation of the stage musical's second act. The first trailer for the sequel was released on Wednesday night, ahead of its worldwide release on Friday 21 November.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
No One in the Movies Stays Dead Anymore
The 'John Wick' franchise has just returned to life with 'Ballerina,' starring Ana de Armas as a Ruska Roma dancer who trains as an assassin to avenge the death of her father. But even if the series' producers hadn't come up with the genius idea of making a spin-off movie about a killer who puts the brutal pow in plié, the 'John Wick' series would still be coming back to life. At CinemaCon in early April, it was announced that Keanu Reeves would be returning to star in 'John Wick 5.' That might have come as a surprise to anyone who saw 'John Wick: Chapter 4' and watched as the title character got killed off in what seemed at the time to be the most dead-as-a-doorknob way possible. That movie, which might have been called 'John Wick — The Final Wreckoning,' was explicitly designed to showcase the end of Wick's reign of mayhem. And the timing felt right. The series had stretched on for nearly a decade, and 'John Wick 4' was close to three hours long. Like a marathon round of Mortal Kombat or the trench warfare of World War I, the series had piled up more than enough of a body count. More from Variety Chad Stahelski on the 'John Wick' Franchise's Insane Body Count and Keanu Reeves' Fifth Movie: 'Still Working on It' 'Ballerina' Star Ana de Armas Says Tom Cruise 'Supports Every Movie' and 'Really Wants' Audiences to 'Go to the Theaters': 'We Are Working Together' 'John Wick 5' Is a New Story and 'Not a Continuation With the High Table,' Says Director: 'John Has Dealt With His Grief. It'll Be Really Different' But, of course, somewhere in the back of your reptile moviegoing brain, you knew that John Wick was going to have to come back. Because how could it be otherwise? No movie franchise today is going to leave its hero on a slab if it means leaving money on the table. In the last five years, there have been several high-profile precedents for this. At the end of 'No time to Die,' the James Bond series conjured a twist of singular gravitas when Daniel Craig's Bond chose to sacrifice himself to save the world. Yet it was a bit laughable when the movie, having made the momentous decision to kill off 007, followed that cataclysmic event with an end title that read: 'James Bond will return.' Talk about having your shaken-not-stirred martini and drinking it too! Then, of course, there's Superman, who died at the end of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,' only to return to life just in time for 'Justice League.' And there's the Avengers, several of whom disintegrated before our eyes when 'the snap' brought 'Avengers: Infinity War' to its suck-in-your-breath conclusion. Outside the theater, however, in the light of late-capitalist Hollywood day, you just knew that it couldn't last, that Peter Parker and T'Challa would have to come back. In movies, you can trace the trend of what we might call Death Lite back to the moment in 1978 that established the if-it-makes-money-bring-it-back paradigm: the 'death' of Michael Myers at the end of 'Halloween.' He gets shot six times and falls off a balcony, lying on the ground, joining the ranks of half a century's worth of movie monsters who are destroyed by the forces of good. Seconds later, though, he is gone; his body has vanished. In essence, that one moment set up the entire arbitrary nature of movie sequel culture. You can draw a direct line from the return of Michael Myers to the resurrection of John Wick, all done in the name of fan service. But why does it feel like all this ritual undercutting of killing is killing us? You might say: What's so bad, really, about taking characters who are this beloved and bringing them back to life? In a sense, nothing. Yet the subtle cumulative effect of it has been to create the sensation that a movie no longer has a true beginning and end, that it lacks what the Greeks called the dramatic unity of action. In Old Hollywood, movies had that; in the New Hollywood of the '70s, they had it as well. But the death-that-isn't-really-death syndrome feeds the perception that movies are now, more and more, just a perpetual blob of time-killing, with nothing at stake. And that has an insidious way of sanding down the inner morality of pop culture, and maybe of our society. In fact, I'd argue that all this 'miraculous' resurrection has begun to raise the question: If death in the movies is no longer permanent, if it no longer means anything, then does anything mean anything? Best of Variety 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar Emmy Predictions: With One Week Until Voting Opens, Declining Submissions Create Tight Acting and Series Races Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (LGF.B) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges ...
Revenue: $326.2 million for the quarter, down 6.8% year over year. Adjusted OIBDA: $92 million for the quarter, up $42.6 million year over year. US OTT Subscribers: 12.3 million, with sequential growth of 530,000. Total US Subscribers: 18 million, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 320,000. Total North American Subscribers: 19.6 million, reflecting a sequential decrease of 330,000 due to a carriage dispute in Canada. Net Debt: $615.5 million at the end of the quarter. Leverage: Total leverage of 3.1 times on a trailing 12-month basis. Restructuring Charge: $177.4 million related to content portfolio reassessment. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 9 Warning Signs with LGF.B. Release Date: May 29, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE:LGF.B) reported strong operating and financial results, achieving $92 million of adjusted OIBDA in the quarter. The company experienced a 2% increase in OTT subscriber growth in the US, driven by the premiere of Raising Kanan Season 4. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE:LGF.B) plans to expand margins from 15% to 20% and convert 70% of adjusted OIBDA into unlevered free cash flow by calendar '26. The company is focused on rebuilding its library and reclaiming ownership economics, with plans for half of the calendar '27 slate to be owned and controlled by Starz. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE:LGF.B) has a strong lineup of upcoming content, including five big tempo series and proven hits like BMF and Power spinoffs, which are expected to drive subscriber and revenue growth. North American revenue was down year over year and sequentially, impacted by a strike-affected year with only three tempo series. The company experienced a sequential decrease of 330,000 subscribers in North America due to a carriage dispute in Canada. Revenue was down 6.8% year over year due to lower total subscribers and continued pressure on linear subscribers. The company recorded a restructuring charge of $177.4 million related to the reassessment of its content portfolio. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE:LGF.B) expects revenue growth to remain negative on a year-over-year basis for calendar '25 due to the drag from lower subscribers in prior quarters. Q: What is different about Starz 3.0 as a standalone company compared to when it was part of Lionsgate? A: Jeffrey Hirsch, CEO, explained that Starz 3.0 is fundamentally different from its earlier iterations. Previously, Starz was a 100% linear, wholesale business with no consumer data. Now, 70% of its revenue is digital, and 80% of customers are a la carte or RevShare. As a standalone company, Starz can focus on unwinding cost pressures and rebuilding its IP library, allowing for greater control over costs and a focus on its core demographics of women and underrepresented audiences. Q: How much of the US OTT growth came from new bundling strategies, and why was revenue lighter than expected? A: Jeffrey Hirsch noted that the majority of subscriber growth was driven by the premiere of "Raising Kanan" in the last three weeks of the quarter. While bundling strategies like the Max Starz and BET Starz bundles on Amazon were successful, the revenue was impacted by the carryover effects of a strike-affected year and the timing of the "Raising Kanan" premiere, which did not contribute a full quarter of revenue. Q: What is the strategy for shifting to owned IP, and what are the expected cost savings? A: Hirsch stated that Starz plans to have half of its calendar 2027 slate be Starz-owned shows. The shift to owned IP is expected to result in cost savings of $1 million to $2 million per hour, with additional savings from international sales. This strategy is part of a broader goal to achieve a 20% margin by calendar 2028. Q: How does Starz plan to manage its content spending and leverage in the future? A: Scott Macdonald, CFO, mentioned that Starz expects cash content spending to decrease to about $700 million in calendar 2026, with a long-term goal of $650 million. The company aims to reduce leverage to 2.5 times and will assess capital allocation strategies, such as expanding the content portfolio, once this target is achieved. Q: How does Starz view potential consolidation opportunities in the industry? A: Jeffrey Hirsch indicated that while Starz is not currently discussing specific M&A opportunities, the company sees potential in partnerships with brands focused on women and underrepresented audiences. These partnerships could involve commercial deals or other arrangements to grow the business together. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
