Chad Stahelski Isn’t Sure ‘John Wick 5’ Will Happen Anytime Soon: “Keanu And I Are Done For The Moment”

In a world where franchises tend to have diminishing returns with subsequent sequels, it’s pretty extraordinary that the “John Wick” film franchise has been able to nearly double its worldwide box office gross with each new film in the series. Now, with “John Wick: Chapter 4” just days away, everyone is expecting the newest film to perhaps be the biggest one yet. And if that’s the case, you better believe Lionsgate is going to want to rush out a “John Wick 5.” However, that doesn’t seem to be the plan for director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves. 

READ MORE: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Review: Action Cinema At Its Finest, The Franchise Reaches A New High 

In a new interview with THR, “John Wick” mastermind Chad Stahelski opened up about his hesitance in agreeing to make “John Wick 5.” The filmmaker explained that he doesn’t think a fifth film is going to happen, at this moment. But he’s not ready to completely rule it out, just yet, especially if the film does “kooky” box office money. 

“In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give ‘John Wick’ a rest,” explained Stahelski. “I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. ‘Wicks’ always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan. It’s always like, three months later. If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’ We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.”

As mentioned above, when you take a look at the trend of “John Wick” films at the box office, the results are staggering. The original “John Wick” was released in 2014 and did $86 million worldwide. Respectable, but not incredible. That was followed by “John Wick: Chapter 2” in 2017, which earned almost $172 million worldwide. Then, in 2019, there was “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” which earned an astounding $328 million. Obviously, no one is expecting ‘Chapter 4’ to double that again and early more than $650 million, but if the film gets closer to $500 million, you have to assume a fifth film is going to be at the top of the priority list for Lionsgate. 

READ MORE: ‘Ballerina’: Anjelica Huston Reprises ‘John Wick 3’ Role In Spinoff Starring Ana de Armas

Thankfully, for the studio, even if there is another large gap between “John Wick” films, there’s still plenty of ‘Wick’ content that should be released over the next couple of years. There’s “Ballerina,” which is the first spinoff film and is in the middle of production now. Then you have “The Continental,” which is a TV spinoff series that is expected to be released sometime later this year. And who knows? Perhaps more spinoffs are on the table. 

But, if you’re going to wait for “John Wick 5,” it would appear that’s likely far in the future, if at all.