How John Wick Went From a Low-Budget Action Movie to a Mega-Franchise

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How did John Wick go from being an unknown indie into one of the biggest action movie franchises of all time?

THE BIG PICTURE

  •  John Wick: Chapter 4 had a massive domestic box office launch, becoming the first R-rated movie since COVID-19 to make over $50 million.
  •  The success of the John Wick franchise is a testament to its immense popularity and how it has surpassed expectations since its humble beginnings.
  •  Original films like John Wick have the potential to resonate with a wide audience and achieve unexpected success, unlike adaptations that may have a limited appeal.

    There’s really no way to overstate how big John Wick: Chapter 4 was in its domestic box office launch. Scoring the first $50+ million opening for an R-rated movie in North America since the COVID-19 pandemic began, this newest John Wick installment left all other entries in the franchise in the dust. These and countless other box office achievements of this new John Wick movie are a testament to just how immensely popular this franchise has become since the saga started in 2014. The modern-day popularity of everything related to John Wick just makes the humble origins of this franchise all the more fascinating. John Wick didn’t just start out as an underdog, but it began life as a seemingly throwaway action movie that would vanish as quickly as it hit theaters.

    Keanu Reeves’ Career Struggled in the 2010s

    To offer some context for how vastly different 2014 pop culture was compared to the 2023 landscape, just look at where Keanu Reeves was in his career when John Wick debuted. After the box office nonstarter The Day the Earth Stood Still in 2008, Reeves switched gears as an actor. The actor only anchored a handful of small indie films like Henry’s Crime and Side by Side in the five years between Stood Still and his next major studio release, 47 Ronin. That big-budget boondoggle turned into a massive flop, which didn’t help his image or box office prowess. The same year John Wick was set to be released, Reeves shot titles that would eventually go direct-to-video like Knock KnockExposed, and The Whole Truth. Keanu Reeves did not have the best of luck with star vehicles in the early 2010s.

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