Box Office: ‘John Wick 4’ Blazes to $8.9M in Thursday Previews

Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 shot up the Thursday evening box office with a huge $8.9 million in previews.

The fourth installment in the marquee Lionsgate action franchise is tracking to open to a franchise-best $65 million to $70 million in its domestic box office opening, more than enough to kill off the competition, including holdover. Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Keanu Reeves once again stars as the expert assassin nicknamed Baba Yaga.

To date, 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum boasts the biggest domestic opening of the series at $56.8 million after earning $5.9 million in Thursday previews, not adjusted for inflation.

John Wick 4 has plenty going in its favor: Reeves is as popular as ever, while critics adore the pic. Its current critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes rests at an impressive 96 percent, the best ranking of any John Wick title (the three previous pics all hovered in the mid-to-high 80 percent range). One challenge: John Wick 4‘s running time is just shy of three hours, meaning fewer show times.

Directed by Chad Stahelski, the film is jam-packed with the usual mayhem, violence, balletic physicality and morbid humor that have come to define the action franchise. The cast also features Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick, who died earlier this month. The film is produced by Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Stahelski.

Internationally, the movie debuts this weekend in 71 territories worldwide, including the UK, Germany, Australia, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico.

The lucrative Lionsgate franchise has grossed nearly $590 million at the worldwide box office. By Sunday, that number should be north of $700 million. John Wick took in a global total of $86.1 million; John Wick: Chapter 2 grossed $174.3 million; and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum hit $328.3 million.

John Wick 4 is a Thunder Road Films/87Eleven production.