The highly anticipated John Wick 4 is set to be the longest film in the franchise, although not by much.
Franchise director Chad Stahelski recently sat down with Collider to discuss the upcoming fourth entry in the wildly popular Keanu Reeves-led action series. In the interview, Stahelski was asked about the length of the new film, and while he didn’t go into any specifics, he said “It’s longer than the other three, but not that long.”
The first John Wick film ran for a total of 101 minutes, John Wick: Chapter 2 was 122 minutes, and the most recent John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum clocked in at a total of 131. This means that the fourth film will run for at least two hours and twelve minutes.
Stahelski also opened up about the film’s editing process, stating “We’re on the final stretch for picture lock, and then we have our VFX music. But this is the furthest along I’ve ever been, this much in post. We love the music that we’ve got so far.” He also clarified that “the movie is essentially done,” before adding “there’s probably another few weeks of tweaking overall, then we lock picture, and we’re about music sound and the effects.”
When asked about getting the action sequences right for John Wick 4, Stahelski mentioned there are some practical obstacles that were tricky to overcome but were equally rewarding. “We’ve tried to do something at the end that is emotional and has cool lighting and looks. And we took our best stab at it, how we shoot all the pieces. And now, putting them together, we’re still like, ‘Yeah, it’s a little bit more of a puzzle than we thought,'” he stated.
The John Wick franchise follows a former hitman who is thrust back into the criminal underworld that he left many years ago after a group of mobsters break into his home and murder his puppy. All three films in the series have been commercially successful, with a collective gross of more than $587 million worldwide. The series proved so popular that it even spawned a comic book and graphic novel series.
A spin-off film is also in the works, titled Ballerina, which will star Ana de Armas in the lead role. Additionally, a spin-off television show called The Continental is in development and will center around the hotel safe haven for hitmen and assassins as seen in the films.
John Wick 4 arrives in theatres on Mar. 24, 2023.
