Will audiences care about the world of “John Wick” without the titular nunchuck-wielding hitman, portrayed by Keanu Reeves across four films, as the star of the show?
Lionsgate will find out this weekend as “Ballerina,” a spinoff starring Ana de Armas as a dancer who packs a punch, opens in theaters on Friday. The film is targeting a fair start of $28 million to $30 million from 3,400 North American locations in its first weekend of release. “Ballerina” looks to add another $30 million from 82 markets the international box office.
That’s a drop from the core series, which has grown in popularity since the original “John Wick” opened to $14 million in 2014. From there, each new entry has improved upon the last at the box office with 2017’s “John Wick: Chapter 2” bowing to $30.4 million, 2019’s “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” launching to $56.8 million and 2023’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” debuting to a series-best $73.8 million.
Though Reeves appears in “Ballerina,” which takes place between the events of the third and fourth “John Wick” installments, the newest action thriller focuses on the de Armas character known as Eve Macarro. She’s a dancer who begins to train as an assassin to exact revenge for her father’s death. Since the movie is not a direct sequel and Eve Macarro is new to the “John Wick” universe, “Ballerina” is not projected to reach the same box office heights as the main franchise. The offshoot was just as expensive, though, costing roughly $90 million to produce.
As for reviews, well, Lionsgate encouraged film critics to hold off on sharing “critical social sentiment” until June 4, two weeks after they were given the go-ahead to post “spoiler-free enthusiasm” on X and other platforms. The studio plans to keep expanding the cinematic universe with “John Wick 5,” as well as spinoff revolving around Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine and an animated prequel film.
“Ballerina” may not be able to dethrone Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” on domestic box office charts. The live-action reboot, which has been No. 1 for two consecutive weekends, is aiming for $30 million to $35 million in its third frame. “Lilo & Stitch” has generated $280 million domestically and a blockbuster $613 million globally since Memorial Day weekend and looks to become the year’s first billion-dollar release.
Elsewhere on box office charts, Wes Anderson’s espionage saga “The Phoenician Scheme” will attempt to parlay its indie success into more mainstream appeal. The film, starring Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks and Benedict Cumberbatch, opened last weekend in limited release and will bring in single digits as the film expands to 1,500 North American theaters starting on Friday.
So far, the summer box office has been hot with overall revenues up 25% from last year, according to Comscore. However, theatrical grosses remain down 27% from 2019 — though that’s a tough metric to match because “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame” had already surpassed $1 billion at this point in the year. Cinema operators are looking to “Jurassic World Rebirth,” Brad Pitt’s “F1,” Marvel’s “Fantastic Four: The First Steps,” “Superman” and other upcoming blockbusters to boost attendance to something that resembles pre-pandemic times.
