Yahoo Movies John Wick 4 is on an impressive box office run
John Wick: Chapter 4 made as big of an impact on its opening weekend at the box office as its shocking ending did on fans.
The movie shot to a $73.8 million debut at the US box office, marking the biggest domestic debut of the series to date ahead of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum's $56.8 million. Together with its reviews, it's the kind of performance that has already started talk about John Wick 5.
However, we've already seen this year how blockbusters can open to record-breaking numbers, only to end up as a relative disappointment – and yes, we are talking about Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania here.
So now the second weekend is out of the way, it's time to delve into the numbers to see whether John Wick: Chapter 4 has been a box-office hit.
John Wick 4 box office explained
In its second weekend, John Wick: Chapter 4 added $28.2 million in the US and $35 million overseas. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves might have taken top spot in the US, but Wick remained supreme internationally.
Overall, the movie has amassed an impressive $244.9 million worldwide meaning that it has already overtaken John Wick ($76 million) and John Wick: Chapter 2 ($171.3 million). Parabellum is still ahead of it with $327.3 million, but Chapter 4 looks set to overtake it to become the biggest John Wick movie to date.
Chapter 4 might have dropped 62% after its opening, but a big drop was likely after a huge debut and it's still tracking ahead of Parabellum at the same stage. Barring a major drop, Chapter 4 should comfortably go past Parabellum in the coming weeks, especially with releases in South Korea and Japan to come.
It's an achievement all the more impressive given the near-three hour length of the movie, which would have limited screening times. But the epic runtime hasn't put off John Wick fans and newcomers, largely spurred on by the critical success of Chapter 4.
As well as looking set to become the highest-grossing outing of the series, Chapter 4 is also – at the time of writing – the best-reviewed movie of the series with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and 78 on Metacritic.
It also helps that blockbuster-wise, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the only game in town for adult-skewing thrills. Ant-Man 3 and Shazam! Fury of the Gods are more family-friendly and suffered from poor critical reception, while the better-received Dungeons & Dragons movie is also aimed at the same audience.
As we head into the Easter weekend, The Super Mario Bros Movie will offer stiff competition to those three movies, but Chapter 4 will act as promising counter-programming to those blockbusters. (Air might draw some of the adult audience away, but it's playing in a different ballpark.)
The fact that it ends in such a surprising way too has only increased the conversation around the new movie. It has ended up being such a talking point that even non-John Wick fans might be drawn to seeing what the fuss is all about, which bodes well for a sustained run for the movie.
With a lack of major new openers after the Easter weekend until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in early May, it's possible that Chapter 4 will sustain throughout April to help it ease past Parabellum's $327.3 million. It's likely that $500 million is out of its reach, but it will be Keanu Reeves's biggest earner outside of The Matrix series and Toy Story 4.
Whether that ends up being enough to lead to John Wick 5 remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that Lionsgate's gamble – Chapter 4 was the most expensive, budget-wise, of the series at a reported $100 million – has absolutely paid off.
Yeah, we're thinking John Wick will definitely be back... but will it be his final chapter? Only time will tell.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is out now in cinemas.
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