John Wick (film)

John Wick (retroactively known as John Wick: Chapter 1) is a 2014 American neo-noir action-thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski, in his directorial debut, and written by Derek Kolstad. It stars Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Willem Dafoe. It is the first installment in the "John Wick" film series.
The story focuses on John Wick (Reeves) searching for the men who broke into his home, stole his vintage car and killed his puppy, which was a last gift to him from his recently deceased wife. Chad Stahelski and David Leitch directed the film together, though only Stahelski was credited.
Kolstad had completed the screenplay in 2012 and further developed it for Thunder Road Pictures. The film was produced by Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road Pictures, Leitch, Eva Longoria, and Michael Witherill. It marks Stahelski and Leitch's directorial debut as a team after multiple separate credits as second-unit directors and stunt coordinators. They previously worked with Reeves as stunt doubles on "The Matrix" trilogy.
Stahelski and Leitch's approach to fight scenes drew upon their admiration for anime and martial arts films. The film used fight choreographers and gun fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema. The film also pays homage to works such as John Woo's "The Killer", Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Cercle Rouge" and "Le Samouraï", John Boorman's "Point Blank", and the Spaghetti Western films.
The film was met with positive reviews, with critics labeling it as one of Reeves' best performances and one of the best action films of 2014. It grossed $86 million worldwide against a production budget of . Two sequels, ', and ', released in 2017 and May 2019 respectively, both met with comparable critical and commercial success, with another sequel, "John Wick: Chapter 4", set for a May 2022 release and an untitled fifth film following that.
Plot.
John Wick loses his wife Helen to a terminal illness. Struggling to cope with her loss, he receives a beagle puppy named Daisy from her before she died, to help him cope with his grief. Despite John's stoic demeanor, he bonds with the puppy and they spend their day driving around in his vintage 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. At a gas station, he encounters a trio of Russian gangsters whose leader Iosef insists on buying his car, which John refuses to sell. That evening the gangsters break into John's home, knock him unconscious, steal his car, and kill Daisy.
Iosef takes the Mustang to a chop shop to have the VIN changed. Aurelio, the shop's owner, recognizes the car and deduces who it was stolen from. He punches Iosef and throws him out. Aurelio is visited by John, who identifies Iosef as the son of Viggo Tarasov, the head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York City. Aurelio relays Iosef's activities to Viggo, who beats and berates Iosef before explaining to him who John Wick is: a famed assassin, formerly in Viggo's employ, nicknamed "Baba Yaga". When John wanted to retire and marry Helen, Viggo gave him an "impossible task," implied to involve multiple high level assassinations in a short period of time. John succeeded, and his efforts were key in establishing the Tarasov syndicate. After warning Iosef of his impending doom, Viggo tries to talk John out of seeking retribution, but John refuses to even talk. Viggo sends a team of hitmen to John's house, but John kills all of them and enlists an underworld cleaning service to dispose of the bodies and evidence.
Unsurprised, Viggo places a $2 million bounty on John's head and personally offers the contract to John's mentor, Marcus, who accepts. John seeks assistance from the New York Continental Hotel, which caters exclusively to the criminal underworld and permits no assassinations on its premises. Viggo doubles the bounty for those willing to break this rule to kill John. Winston, the Continental's manager, informs John that Viggo has Iosef under guard at his nightclub, the Red Circle. John enters the Red Circle and kills a horde of thugs to reach Iosef, who narrowly escapes after Viggo's lieutenant Kirill manages to incapacitate John. John retreats to the Continental to have his injuries treated. Ms. Perkins, an assassin and former acquaintance, sneaks into John's room to kill him. Marcus alerts John, allowing him to subdue Perkins, who is forced to reveal the location of Viggo's front. He knocks her unconscious and leaves her with Harry, a fellow assassin, to await punishment, but she frees herself and kills Harry. John travels to a church in Little Russia which serves as Viggo's front and destroys his cache of money and blackmail material. When Viggo and his henchmen arrive, John ambushes them, but he is subdued and captured. Viggo taunts John for thinking he would be able to leave his old life behind. Before John can be killed, Marcus intervenes again, allowing John to free himself, kill Kirill, and accost Viggo, who reveals Iosef's location. John then travels to Iosef's safe house and kills him and his bodyguards.
Perkins learns that John and Marcus have been in contact and informs Viggo, who has Marcus beaten and tortured before executing him in his home. Viggo calls John to report this, planning to have Perkins ambush him. While waiting for John, Perkins is summoned to a meeting with Winston, who orders her executed for killing Harry on Continental grounds. Winston calls John to inform him that Viggo is planning to escape by helicopter. John races to New York Harbor, where he kills Viggo's remaining henchmen before fighting Viggo on the dock. Viggo pulls out a knife, and John allows himself to be stabbed, then disarms and fatally wounds Viggo. John breaks into an animal clinic to treat his wounds and releases a pit bull puppy scheduled to be euthanized. John and the dog walk home along the boardwalk where he had his final date with Helen.
Cast.
Other cast members include David Patrick Kelly as Charlie, the "cleaner"; Randall Duk Kim as a doctor with a select clientele; Lance Reddick as Charon, a concierge at The Continental Hotel who always seems to know what the client needs; Munro M. Bonnell as a Russian Orthodox priest who protects the vault where Viggo stores his valuables; Omer Barnea playing Gregori and Toby Leonard Moore playing Victor, Iosef's friends and bodyguards; Matt McColm as a club goon; Daniel Bernhardt as Kirill, Viggo's henchman; Bridget Regan as Addy; Keith Jardine as Kuzma; Tait Fletcher as Nicholai; Thomas Sadoski as Jimmy; Clarke Peters as Harry; Kevin Nash as Francis, a bouncer at the Red Circle night club; Gameela Wright as a delivery woman; Vladislav Koulikov as Pavel; Pat Squire as an elderly woman; Vladimir Troitsky as a Team Leader; and Scott Tixier as a violinist.
Production.
Development.
The premise for "John Wick" was conceived by screenwriter Derek Kolstad who began work on a treatment about a retired contract killer coming out to seek vengeance, entitled "Scorn". After one month of starting, he had completed the first draft of the screenplay and once he had addressed several issues he had pitched the script to various clients, with at least three offers being made. When he first started thinking about writing the script, Kolstad was influenced by film-noir classics and the themes of revenge and the antihero and the occurrences of what may play out if "The worst man in existence found salvation [...] When the source of his salvation is ripped from him [...] Do the gates of Hades open?" For Kolstad, both Alistair MacLean and Stephen King were influences in the creating of the story of John Wick in terms of characterisation and world-building, stating, "[...] MacLean could build a world, and King could surprise you by what the main character truly was capable of."
On 3 December 2012, it was announced that Thunder Road Pictures had bought the script with discretionary funds, with Kolstad agreeing due to Thunder Road's plan to make the film straight away. When Basil Iwanyk, head of Thunder Road Pictures, had first read Kolstad's original screenplay, he was immediately drawn to the main character of Wick, stating, "The tone of the script was subversive and really fun." He too remarked the emotional weight and action theme of the piece, of which he admired. After Thunder Road had optioned the script, Kolstad spent additional months rewriting the script with them. In the original script, the character of John Wick was written with "a man in his mid-sixties" to play the role, given the title character's fabled reputation as a revered and respected assassin, thus the filmmakers had initially imagined an older actor. However, Iwanyk was of the belief that this was irrelevant and bent the original vision ever so slightly, stating, "Instead, we decided to look for someone who is not literally older, but who has a seasoned history in the film world."
On 7 May 2013, it was announced that Keanu Reeves began negotiations to star in the piece in April, and was later confirmed as the film's male lead, after Iwanyk and Peter Lawson of Thunder Road showed him the script, to which he thought to be full of potential and further stated, "I love the role, but you want the whole story, the whole ensemble to come to life." Reeves and Kolstad had worked closely together on further developing the screenplay and the story, with the screenwriter stating, "We spent as much time developing the other characters as we did his. [Keanu] recognizes that the strength of the storyline lies in even the smallest details." The title of the film was later changed from "Scorn" to "John Wick", as according to Kolstad, "Keanu liked the name so much, that Reeves kept telling everyone that he was making a film called 'John Wick'", and the producers agreed, changing the title.
During story discussions for John Wick, Reeves contacted Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who he originally met on the set of "The Matrix", regarding the possibility as to whether they were interested in choreographing or directing the action of the piece.
 Reeves admired Stahelski and Leitch's work performing, choreographing and coordinating, stating that, "When I got the script... I immediately thought of Chad and Dave for the action design, but I was secretly hoping they'd want to direct it." he then added, "I knew that they would love the genre and I knew that they would love John Wick. And I thought the worlds that get created — the real world and then this underworld — would be attractive to them, and it was." After reading Kolstad's script, Stahelski and Leitch, told Reeves they wanted to tell the story of "John Wick", as they both had a desire to get involved with a first unit or a directing project. Impressed with Reeves' enthusiasm and the quality of the script, Stahelski and Leitch told him that they wished to direct the film and later presented him with their version of the story which was based on "[...] the idea of [Wick] as an urban legend, a thriller assassin movie with a realistic vibe and an otherworldly setting." Impressed with their concept, Reeves supported the pair, and Stahelski and Leitch pitched the idea to the studio, who hired them to direct, contrary to their initial request of directing the film's second unit. On 7 May 2013, it was announced that Stahelski and Leitch were to direct the piece, though it was later ruled by the Directors Guild of America that Stahelski would be given the director credit whereas Leitch would formally be credited as a producer.
Stahelski acknowledged the challenges in balancing the action with that of both the pace and tone, to which he had stated, "we're good at doing that for a particular scene when doing action, but here, we had to take a through-line for the entire film." He too acknowledged that action itself should be a collaborative entity with the story, as opposed to being a thing of its own, "If you're clever with the story and clever with the action, they can fuse together. We don't see any real separation that the story stops, and then we just wow you with action. If it all fits and weaves together and helps you love the character, that's what we want to do. ... Demand more out of your action, as an audience." It was remarked by Kolstad that once Reeves, Stahelski and Leitch were officially on board, during the period of January 2013 and September 2013 he was still working on the final drafts of the screenplay and the modifying of it, to which he described in the general sense a rather "relentless process," further stating, "[...] it needs to be in order to get everyone's vision in check."
On 12 September 2013, Willem Dafoe was confirmed to have been cast in the role of Marcus "[...] a close friend of Wick. He was the one who encouraged Wick to leave the life after his wife dies." On 19 September 2013, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki and Dean Winters were confirmed to be a part of the film's supporting cast. On 14 October 2013, Bridget Moynahan had joined the cast of Stahelski and Leitch's film in the role of John Wick's wife who, "the beagle puppy, Daisy, was a posthumous gift to John from." On 15 October 2013, Jason Isaacs had joined the cast, portraying David. On 27 November 2013, Daniel Bernhardt was confirmed to have joined the cast of Stahelski and Leitch's "John Wick", playing Kirill, "a formal Russian military commander who is Viggo's henchman." Stahelski and Leitch are hoping for more opportunities behind the camera, with Stahelski himself stating, "Our focus has always been to be filmmakers first and department heads second," as well as adding, "Now we're following our passion and our dream."
Filming.
Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in New York City, with an expected late 2014 release, with an original shooting schedule meant to have occurred from 25 September to 5 December. On 14 October 2013, shooting began in Mill Neck, New York, with the filming process scheduled to continue in and around New York City and greater New York area.
On August 26, 2013, Lionsgate announced that they were looking for "a high-end glass house with a water view" that was located in Nassau County, additionally with a scene or two being shot in Long Island. On October 6, 2013, filming occurred next door to the Flatiron School, on 11 Broadway. Filming moved to Brooklyn on October 24, with filming occurring on 6th Avenue between Union and Carroll Street, President Street between 6th and 7th Avenues and Carroll Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. Additionally filming later occurred at the St. Francis Xavier Church on 6th Avenue. On October 28, 2013, a scene was shot CITGO gas station, 501 N. Highland Ave in Upper Nyack, whilst also shooting footage at Route 9W and Christian Herald Road.
On November 1, 2013, filming took place in lower Manhattan where Delmonico's, at 2 South William Street, was used for the exterior of The Continental hotel. On November 12, 2013, some scenes were shot on 25 Broadway, and in the Financial District on Beaver Street by Broad Street. Filming also took place at W 43rd Street and 8th Avenue, on November 13, in Manhattan, and club scenes for "John Wick" have been filmed on W 27 Street, with November 15 being the last night schedule at the location. On November 21, 2013, it was announced that a bath house scene was scheduled to be filmed on November 24, December 4 and December 5. Other shooting locations included Tribeca, on November 20, which a chase scene was filmed on Church Street. It was also reported, on November 27, that filming had been set up on E 83rd and 3rd Street on the Upper East Side.
On December 2, 2013, a three-week Upper East Side. shoot was scheduled until December 22, with Keanu Reeves and William Dafoe filming several scenes. Filming continued to shoot in Tribeca from December 3 to December 5, with the notification placed on Church and Franklin. After the Tribeca shoot, the crew moved to Long Island on December 6 to film a funeral scene, and the shoot will be exterior. Additional filming was reported on December 13 for Chambers Street, Worth Street, and Lafayette Street. On December 19, Reeves was filming in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
Principal photography was confirmed to have ended on December 20, 2013, with post-production beginning on January 10, 2014.
Cinematography.
The film was shot on an Arri Alexa XT digital camera, with a distributed aspect ratio of . Sela described the contrast between John Wick's normal life and the assassin underworld as, "We wanted the first look to be soft and clean, and the second to be grittier, darker, and sharper. For cost reasons we were shooting with just the one camera format, so I used different lenses and contrasting camerawork to create these two distinct looks." He describes the first section of the film as being far more static by stating that, "the camera never stops moving". For "John Wick" he had decided on using both anamorphic and spherical lenses, to which he combined a set of Hawk V-Lite Vintage´74 anamorphics with that of Cooke S4 sphericals. The initial plan was to use the anamorphic and spherical lenses in the first and second parts, respectively, to create the visual contract; however, he decided against such a course of action, as he stated, "once we were shooting we felt that the camerawork was enough to separate those two worlds and we ended up using the anamorphics mainly for day work and the sphericals for night work."
Design.
Costume designer Luca Mosca explained that Wick had to possess a piece of attire that had to be worn throughout almost the entire production of the film, to which he then added, "Then we had to tailor it perfectly and make it sleek and timeless enough to fit into this perfect world." Due to the nature of the world Stahelski and Leitch created, Luca had to create a statement for every character based on their costume. Initially the idea was to place the villains of the piece in combat gear, but later they decided against that due to the principle that they have to be placed in suits, with Leitch quoting Luca, "It is about men in suits."
Production designer Dan Leigh said, "I approached the story as more of a fable, which ties into the graphic-novel idea. The visual manifestation of that is something that transcends reality. The light is a little bit different. There's texture in the air. There are unexpected objects everywhere."
Sound engineers Jim Bolt and Martyn Zub mixed the sound for "John Wick", supervised by sound editor Mark Stoeckinger. Production sound mixer Danny Michael had used Sound Devices' 788T-SSD Digital Recorder and CL-WiFi as sound devices, additionally with a Lectrosonics VRT-Venue System, Lectrosonics radio mics, Schoeps CMC-6U and CMIT-5U microphones, a Cooper Sound 208 mixer, Blackmagic dual seven-inch monitors and a Denecke Dcode GR-1 as the main time clock for "John Wick". Due to "John Wick" being an action-oriented piece, it required a lot of sound effects, as well as "file-based workflow". For Michael, the 788T-SSD's ability to swap out removable storage was an advantage, due to himself simply supplying his CompactFlash to the post-production company Light Iron, in order for them to process the raw unedited footage on the set. Michael stated, "I was basically handing over my sound every time a camera roll changed, to a person who was literally five feet away from me," adding that, "They then took my material and synched it with what was coming off the cameras, on the spot. We would rotate CF cards throughout the course of the day."
Visual effects.
Jake Braver was the overall visual-effects supervisor and visual-effects company Spin VFX worked on most of the visual effects.
Music.
The musical score to "John Wick" was composed by Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard, with on-screen violin music performed by Scott Tixier. The film features a few pieces of additional music such as Marilyn Manson's "Killing Strangers" and T-Bo and Bengie B's "Get Money". The original soundtrack album, "", was released digitally on October 21, 2014 and received a physical format release on October 27 by Varese Sarabande Records. In addition to Bates and Richard's score, the album features music by artists such as Ciscandra Nostalghia, The Candy Shop Boys, and M86 & Susie Q. Le Castle Vania provided additional music for the score.
Influences.
Director Chad Stahelski said influences on "John Wick" included; "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" (1966), "Point Blank" (1967), "Le Cercle Rouge" (1970), and "The Killer" (1989). Stahelski said about "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly", "Look at Clint Eastwood in [the film] —there is so much back-story unsaid there. We're big fans of leaving it to your imagination. We just give you some gold coins, and then it's, "Where do the gold coins come from?" We'll get to that. Have your imagination do some work there." He also said "Point Blank" (1967) influenced John Wick: "One of the biggest inspirations for the film was "Point Blank". We watched it on a loop in our office and there are a couple homages to that [in John Wick]." Park Chan-wook's "The Vengeance Trilogy" (2002-2005) and Lee Jeong-beom's "The Man from Nowhere" (2010) influenced the film due to "[their] minimalist composition and graphic nature."
For screenwriter Derek Kolstad, both Alistair MacLean and Stephen King were huge influences in the creation of the story of "John Wick" in terms of characterisation and world-building, stating, "MacLean could build a world, and King could surprise you by what the main character truly was capable of." Outside of films, Stahelski and Leitch drew inspiration from the visual stylings of the 60's and 70's as well as cinematic influences, including Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, William Friedkin and Sam Peckinpah. With Stahelski himself stating, "All the way back to Kurosawa up to Sergio Leone. We like the spaghetti western sensibility there, some of the composition." Albeit inspiration and emulation from the noir film genre, Stahelski too added that, "Noir maybe was sort of less impactful for us than the other sort of westerns and Kurosawa and things like that. I think we wanted to make this hard-boiled character."
Marketing.
The official website for "John Wick" debuted on August 15, 2014 introducing a marketing campaign and interactive layout to promote the film. The website streamed an audio file and contained interactive games such as "The Red Circle Club" and "Revenge Ride". Lionsgate provided information on the cast and crew along with a gallery and video section.
The first images debuted on August 21, 2014 featuring Reeves' as Wick. With the release Lionsgate confirmed the film being set for a "sudden release" on October 24, 2014.
On September 10, 2014, the teaser poster was released with the confirmation date of the expected teaser trailer.
The teaser trailer for "John Wick" debuted September 12, 2014. The theatrical release poster and the final theatrical trailer were both released on September 30, 2014, by Stahelski and Leitch on an 'Ask me anything' Reddit session.
Lionsgate had provided Collider and Moviepilot, on October 2, 2014, with a prize pack to give away to various readers, which included "Assassin's Creed Unity", a $25 Fandango gift card, a Lionsgate DVD 3-pack with "Dredd", "Gamer", and "Rambo", and a John Wick poster and T-shirt. On October 6, 2014, the official website for "John Wick" had been updated to include three trailers, photographs with John's story, individual cast photos, and mini-biographies. The IMAX TV spot trailer for "John Wick" debuted October 6, 2014, featuring new footage of the film. Carl F. Bucherer was the official partner of the "John Wick" premiere in New York City on October 13, 2014. Keanu Reeves sported a Manero AutoDate with a light dial, Willem Dafoe wore a Manero AutoDate in classic black, and Daniel Bernhardt with a Patravi ChronoGrade. An IMAX featurette was released on October 22, 2014 with clips relating to the film accompanied by statements by Reeves, Stahelski, and Leitch.
On October 16, 2014, "John Wick" was featured on the week's issue of "Entertainment Weekly".
As part of a cross-promotional deal with Overkill Software, Lionsgate and Thunder Road Pictures, on October 21, 2014, John Wick was added as a playable character in the online game "Payday 2". Other elements from the film were included, such as Wick's signature weapons and skill tree that allowed for dual-wielding of certain firearms. Fandango offered people who purchased tickets online at select theaters a free download of "Payday 2" through Steam. "Variety" described Liongate's deal as a "pretty imaginative marketing move". Danielle DePalma, Lionsgate's EVP of digital marketing, stated, "We're big fans of "Payday 2" and the team at Starbreeze, and we're thrilled to kick off our partnership with such a cool movie". Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO, stated, "We've finally got a real hitman on our team. Being able to play as John Wick in "Payday 2" ahead of the movie's release is a great reward for our loyal "Payday 2" community."
Release.
"John Wick" premiered at the Regal Union Square Theatre, Stadium 14 on October 13, 2014 in New York City. It had an earlier screening at the Austin Fantastic Fest on September 19, where it opened the official sidebar section, Special Gala Screening, to an astounding reception. It opened in Los Angeles at the ArcLight Hollywood on October 22, 2014. "John Wick" had its television premiere on the USA channel on March 12, 2017.
Pre-release screenings.
Prior to "John Wick"'s public release, an advance screening of the film was shown on October 9, 2014 at Regal Oakwood in Hollywood, Florida. A screening was shown in advance at the UA Court Street in Brooklyn, New York on October 14. Glendale Designs sponsored a private screening on October 16, 2014 at Harkins Arrowhead in Peoria, Arizona. BackstageOL and Lionsgate hosted an advance screening on October 21, 2014 at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium in Houston, Texas and at the Santikos Embassy 14 in San Antonio, Texas. Additionally, Lionsgate had announced 40 additional advanced screenings at selected theatres in the United States October 21 and 22, as part of a national promotional campaign. Entertainment One Films held advance screenings in Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver between October 20 and 23.
Theatrical run.
"John Wick" began a wide theatrical release in the United States on October 24, 2014, expanding in successive weeks to France, Australia, and Netherlands, and premiered in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2015 after expanding throughout Europe.
On May 22, 2013, Lionsgate had sold more than $250 million in territorial rights to nine titles at the Cannes Film Festival, including "John Wick". StudioCanal will distribute the piece throughout Germany, Metropolitan Filmexport acquired the French distribution rights to "John Wick" from Lionsgate, Acme Film acquired the distribution rights throughout the Baltic region, Monolith Films acquired the film rights in Poland, Imagem Filmes had acquired the Brazilian distribution rights, VieVision Pictures obtained the film rights in Taiwan while Panasia Films obtained the film rights in Hong Kong, and InterCom acquired some of the rights for Eastern Europe. Entertainment One picked up the Canadian distribution rights. On June 10, 2014, Belga Films had acquired the rights to distribute the film in Belgium while A-Film has distribution in the Netherlands. On July 2, 2014, M2 Pictures were confirmed to have acquired the Italian distribution rights to "John Wick". On May 8, 2014, the Huayi Brothers picked up the Chinese distribution rights to "John Wick", being one of only four films from the United States that were picked up, with a planned 2015 limited theatrical release. On August 11, 2014, Lionsgate acquired from Thunder Road Pictures the distribution rights to "John Wick" in the United States, with a planned 2014 limited theatrical release, and in October, Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, distributed the film in the United States On October 31, 2014, it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures would be distributing the film in the UK (along with ). It was later announced that the release date in the United Kingdom was moved back from the first weekend of 2015 to April 10, 2015.
On October 2, 2014, Summit Entertainment announced that "John Wick" would be released in IMAX.
Reception.
Box office.
"John Wick" earned $14.4 million from 2,589 locations on its opening weekend, compared to the $7–8 million most analysts projected the film would make. By the end of its theatrical run, "John Wick" grossed $43 million in North America and $45.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $88.8 million, against a production budget of $20–30 million.
The film had a wide release in the United States and Canada in selected theatres on October 24. The film earned $5.45 million on its opening day, including $875,000 from Thursday night previews, which was the second-highest opening of that weekend, at an average of $5,465 per theater. The film grossed $2.5 million from 347 IMAX locations that weekend, which represented 17.7 percent of the film's overall gross for its opening weekend. The audience was 60% male and 77% were older than 25.
Outside North America, the film took $1.4 million during its international opening weekend. The film's highest-grossing debuts were in France, Australia, Thailand, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. On its second week, it added $6.7 million from 33 territories. The film went number one in France ($1.2 million) from 300 screens, number three in Australia ($961,000) from 177 screens, and number ten in the Middle East ($1 million) from a total of 80 screens.
Critical reception.
"John Wick" earned a mostly positive reception upon release, attaining praise for the action sequences, direction, visual style, pacing and the performances of the cast, especially Keanu Reeves as John Wick. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 87% based on 215 reviews, and an average rating of 6.96/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Stylish, thrilling, and giddily kinetic, "John Wick" serves as a satisfying return to action for Keanu Reeves – and what looks like it could be the first of a franchise." Metacritic, assigned the film a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on reviews from 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a "B" grade, on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" stated, ""John Wick" is the kind of fired-up, ferocious B-movie fun some of us can't get enough of" and noted the "juicy performances" from Dafoe, Leguizamo, and McShane. Richard Corliss of "Time" magazine wrote, "Action movies are about movement, and "John Wick" pursues that goal with remorseless verve." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a "B+" rating, stating, "An underworld fantasy that grafts crisp action on to Rian Johnson-esque world-building, producing one of the more fully realized shoot-'em-up flicks in recent memory." He continued by praising Kolstad's script which "distinguishes itself by carefully defining the boundaries of its universe". Chris Nashawaty of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film an "A−" rating and called Kolstad's screenplay, "a marvelously rich and stylish feat of pulpy world-building."
Justin Lowe of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "After a marked absence from the genre, Reeves resoundingly returns with an effortless, kinetic style that positions the film extremely well for any potential follow-ups." Peter Debruge of "Variety" spoke highly of the film, "Back in action-hero mode, Keanu Reeves joins forces with his "Matrix" stunt double to deliver a slick and satisfying revenge thriller" and noted "what a thrill well-choreographed action can be when we're actually able to make out what's happening". Stephanie Zacharek of "The Village Voice" said that, "Reeves is wonderful here, a marvel of physicality and stern determination – he moves with the grace of an old-school swashbuckler." Bilge Ebiri of "Vulture" commented, "It's a beautiful coffee-table action movie."
Jeannette Catsoulis wrote, in her review for "The New York Times", "Harboring few ambitions beyond knock-your-socks-off action sequences, this crafty revenge thriller delivers with so much style – and even some wit – that the lack of substance takes longer than it should to become problematic." Catsoulis praised Dafoe and Leguizamo for "bringing real subtlety to an all-too-brief scene" and Nyqvist as "marvellous", as well as Stahelski's direction and Sela's cinematography. Forrest Wickman of "Slate" noted, ""John Wick" offers a slow burn, sizzling in a manner true to its hero's surname." Jordan Hoffman of "The Guardian" scored the film four out of five stars, writing, "A slick, propulsive and ridiculous crime picture that strides like an automatic machine gun."
Peter Bradshaw, also reviewing for "The Guardian", gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated "Reeves's semi-deliberate zonked deadpan style only really works in juxtaposition with funny dialogue – and this is a pretty humourless and violent film, which grinds on and on with more and more gleaming black SUVs getting trashed." Ealasaid Haas of "San Jose Mercury News" described "John Wick" as a "disappointingly standard revenge movie." John Semley of "The Globe and Mail" called the title "the new name in crummy action cinema," giving it one-half out of 4 stars.
Video game.
On August 7, 2015, Lionsgate and Starbreeze Studios announced a partnership to develop a first-person shooter virtual reality game based on the film for the HTC Vive/Steam VR. Development was to be headed by Grab Games, with Starbreeze set to publish. WEVR was to develop an introductory experience for the game. The game was released on February 9, 2017, with the name "John Wick Chronicles". and have a standalone narrative based on the Continental Hotel. Additionally, John Wick content – a free "Character Pack" and a chargeable "Weapons Pack" – was released for the "Payday 2" games on October 20, 2016, as cross-promotion.
"The Reaper" character skin in "Fortnite Battle Royale" was often referred to as John Wick. There has since been an official John Wick skin released alongside a limited game mode titled "Wick's Bounty."
"John Wick Hex" is a tactical third person mobile game set in the John Wick universe, just before the trilogy's events. It has been relatively well-received, with an 80% rating on PC Gamer. It makes use of a timeline and movement budget, as well as a replay function that stitches together a level the player completed into an action sequence.
Sequels.
A sequel was released on February 10, 2017, and at the 2016 CinemaCon, Reeves hinted that more sequels had been planned. Following the release of "John Wick: Chapter 2", a third movie was released as of May 17, 2019 by the name of "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum". A fourth installment, "John Wick: Chapter 4", is in the works, and is set for release on May 27, 2022. A fifth film is intended to follow, being filmed simultaneously with the fourth film. Filming of Chapter 4 was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
TV series.
In 2017, a prequel series titled "The Continental" was in development focusing on the hotel chain that acts as a neutral ground for assassins.