The humble actioner who created a stock universe ignites a raging fire

When you think of the films that have been developed with the intention of launching a common cinematic universe, the first thing that springs to mind is an R-rated actioner with a budget of around $20 million John Wick turned out to be the little film that could.

After recouping the budget four times at the box office, a sequel was hastily announced, and the franchise has done little but gather strength since. Chapter 3 – Parabellum earned more than four times the amount of the opening chapter while critically remaining strong throughout, with director Chad Stahelski fusing intricate world-building with breathtaking combat choreography.

Nowadays we are in the midst of an unstoppable expansion ready to cover every form of media. Chapter 4 Hitting theaters next March, we’re guaranteed at least a fifth appearance for Keanu Reeves’ unstoppable assassin, while he’ll also have a cameo in the Ana de Armas-led spin-off ballerinaand that’s without mentioning prequel series The Continentalor the AAA video game that may be in the pipeline.

As if you needed any more reasons to doubt the popularity of John Wick, the relatively modest first entry, has continued to gun down the competition eight years after its on-demand release. According to FlixPatrol, the shoot ’em up is a top 10 hit on Prime Video in 19 countries, while also conveniently slotting into the global watchlist on Google Play Movies, iTunes, Chili and ViaPlay making it look like it is everyone check in at the Continental right away.