John Wick returns for the 5th installment in just over ten years since the original came out because obviously, why wouldn’t he? Perhaps I should stop being so harsh, and be elated that we are at least getting yet another sequel from a franchise created in the last century, as everyone from Indiana Jones to Alien don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, as it’s only a matter of time until we get the inevitable multiverse mashup, Alien Jones: Raiders of the Romulus (Alien: Romulus was actually very cool, but Indy’s latest installment…not so much).
John Wick returns (sort of) in what is being titled John Wick: Ballerina, staring Ana De Armas in a revenge flick about a beautiful ballerina’s quest for vengeance against those who killed her father. The tie in with the taciturn, monochromatically dressed assassin, John Wick? She runs into him and, naturally, asks him about the ways of the samurai (like when Yoda trains Luke Skywalker, probably).
Watch the official trailer below.
With a returning cast of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston and Gabriel Bryne as the main bad guy, Ballerina was initially slated for release this last June 2024, but Lionsgate delayed the film in hopes of reaching stratospheric fan anticipation. The film is now slated for release on June 6, 2025.
It does make sense that the popular John Wick franchise is getting another installment in a relatively short time (the first film released in 2014) for a few reasons. One, as mentioned, this is a new action hero, one that follows the tradition of naming its lead John (John McClane, Die Hard; John Rambo, Rambo; John Connor, Terminator; John Matrix, Commando), and in our current void of cinematic creativity, that’s a sobering realisation. And two, whether you like it or not, the John Wick films are simply entertainment for entertainment’s sake, as is evidence of their efficacy. There is no moral agenda being pushed. There is no real story being told. Heck, Reeves doesn’t even really speak in the films whatsoever. Such being the choice of Reeves himself, with the director of the first four films, Chad Stahelski, reporting that Wick, erm, Reeves severed approximately half the dialogue of his character in the script. In fact, in the fourth film, which has a runtime of 169 minutes, Wick utters just 380 words and has more dialogue in the 2.5 minute trailer clip than he does in the first 25 minutes of the film.
Reeves’ longest stretch of dialogue comes in the form of: “You and I left a good life behind a long time ago, my friend.”
In the words of Tony Soprano, “Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong silent type? That was an American.” Well, T, we got the next best thing.
And considering the strong box office performance of the latest John Wick: Chapter 4 installment, the franchise has now eclipsed $1B (AED 3.7B) worldwide. And the latest sequel proved the most lucrative yet, hitting $425M (AED 1.5B) globally. That is a massive spike from what the original brought in in 2014, $87,8M (AED 322M). So, if any of you are questioning why they’re making a fifth film, there’s your answer.
Will John Wick: Ballerina be the biggest, baddest, most auspicious effort yet? And will Ana de Armas, too, have as little dialogue as possible? We have a little less than a year to find out.
