The threequel earned $321 million worldwide, up 86% from John Wick: Chapter Two’s $172 million cume in 2017 and 3.6x the $88 million that John Wick earned in 2014. In terms of movie-to-movie growth for franchises that don’t take excessive sabbaticals (sorry, Jurassic World or Mad Max: Fury Road), this was unprecedented. Can John Wick: Chapter 4 turn the franchise into an A-level worldwide blockbuster franchise?
It was able to jump so far from its respective predecessor twice in a row because it started small. We were talking about a film that earned as much domestically as Blake Lively’s (underappreciated) Age of Adeline. It was a real breakout sequel in 2017, but the John Wick franchise didn’t leap so high that there was nowhere to go but down. It wasn’t Pitch Perfect, which jumped from $65 million in 2012 to $188 million in 2015 and then earned $100 million in 2017, or Austin Powers which went from $53 million to $205 million to $215 million. A bump from $43 million to $92 million is significant, especially in this environment where originals struggle and prepackaged franchise-starters play like sequels. That said, there was room to grow.