Whilst the second and third films in the “John Wick” franchise arrived just over two years after their predecessors, the upcoming “John Wick: Chapter 4” hits nearly four years since May 2019 when Keanu Reeves’ hitman character was shot and fell off The Continental’s rooftop.
Indeed, the fourth film was originally planned to have a May 2021 release. Then the global pandemic and Reeves’ commitments to “The Matrix Resurrections” got in the way, pushing back filming until late June 2021.
The film was rescheduled for a May 27th 2022 release but was pushed again to avoid “Top Gun: Maverick” – that delay took it to its current March 24th 2023 release date where it’s all set to open.
In a recent interview with Wired, Reeves revealed that despite all the delays, it was always his desire for the film to go theatrical and not be dumped to streaming like so many other films were during the pandemic. His reasoning comes from the emotions that the theatrical experience can bring:
“It’s dreams, right? And immersion. I think the power of cinema – part of it is its novelty, but also its scale. You see a close-up of a wonderful performance with emotions and storytelling that touch you. Whether it’s horror or action or comedy, you’re seeing a face that’s, you know, 20 feet tall. Yeah. You’re, like, there. The intimacy of that.”
The comments come in the middle of ‘Wick Week’ promotions with the release of a final trailer later today and a series of character posters published yesterday which you can see in the gallery below.
