Lionsgate’s plan is to start filming the John Wick spinoff movie, Ballerina, this coming summer. At CinemaCon, the first footage of the anticipated sequel John Wick: Chapter 4 was unveiled, giving fans a look at Keanu Reeves’ titular hitman back at doing what he does best. In the footage, Reeves could be seen taking on two thugs in an art gallery, defeating the both of them with nunchucks in hand.
Also revealed is the plan for Ballerina, the long-gestating John Wick spinoff with Ana de Armas in the lead role. The movie follows a young woman raised to be an assassin who takes revenge against the hitmen that killed her family. It had been rumored that Armas would star in the film, but it was officially confirmed by Lionsgate at CinemaCon. The movie will finally start shooting this summer after it was first reported on back in 2017.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Ballerina will be directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld) using a screenplay by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum). Chad Stahelski, the director of all four John Wick films, will be producing Ballerina with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.
This will be one of the biggest roles for Ana de Armas yet, though she has several other exciting projects in the works. She’ll be playing Marilyn Monroe in the NC-17 biopic Blonde, which hits Netflix later this year. Before then, fans can first catch Armas alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the Russo brothers’ action thriller The Gray Man, coming to Netflix in July. Armas will also reunite with Evans for Dexter Fletcher’s upcoming romantic action film Ghosted for Apple TV+.
More John Wick Movies and Spinoffs Are in the Works
Lionsgate
The John Wick series is also moving along with plans to continue past the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4. There had been plans to shoot both John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 back-to-back, but that was changed because of the pandemic. There are still plans at Lionsgate to make a fifth movie, but fans are going to have to wait a bit longer for that to come to fruition. It’s not clear when Lionsgate is planning to get that fifth film into theaters.
Meanwhile, a spinoff television series, dubbed The Continental, is also in development. It will serve as a prequel set during the 1970s by following a younger version of Winston, Ian McShane’s character from the films. Colin Woodell has been cast to play the young Winston Scott, while Mel Gibson will also be co-starring in the main role. The prequel series also stars Ayomide Adegun, Peter Greene, Jeremy Bobb, Katie McGrath, Hubert Point-Du Jour, and Mishel Prada. Chad Stahelski will direct the pilot episode of the series, which was ordered to series at Starz in 2018.
Ballerina doesn’t have an official release date but will start principal photography in the summer of 2022. Fans can look forward to catching John Wick: Chapter 4 after many delays when that sequel finally hits theaters on March 24, 2023.
