John Wick: Chapter 4 shows up for $25.8M, a similar Friday/previews to Saturday trajectory of -12%, as did John Wick Chapter 3. That makes for a revised franchise and Lionsgate pandemic record opening of $73.5M. Worldwide start is also a franchise best, as we always knew it would be, with $137.5M. The Keanu Reeves movie debuted at No. 1 in each of the 71 markets where the pic opened this weekend. Internationally, the film took in an estimated $64M overseas, exceeding all pre-release estimates for the film.

Stateside, it’s Reeves’s second-best live-action opening, after the $91.7M made by 2003’s Matrix Reloaded, and worldwide, it’s likely the actor’s second-best debut after Matrix Revolutions‘s $201.4M global start in 2003.

Other bragging points:

—John Wick joins a select few film series that set a franchise record with their fourth outing, only nine in the past 40 years. Of those nine franchises, only five have done what John Wick has accomplished in building to four films with each new offering exceeding the last (i.e., 4 greater than 3, 3 greater than 2, 2 greater than 1).

John Wick: Chapter 4 is the biggest R-rated opening post-pandemic, exceeding Halloween Kills‘ $49.4M (which was hampered by a theatrical day-and-date release on streaming service Peacock).

To date, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the second-best domestic opening of 2023, after Disney/Marvel Studio’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($106.1M).

Interesting to note that this is supposedly Reeves’ swan song in the core franchise, and the fourthquel opened to more than No Time to Die ($55.2M) at the U.S./Canada box office.

Box Office Analytics firm EntTelligence reports that 5M people went to see the fourthquel this weekend, to Quantumania‘s 7M admissions.

Steady foot traffic through matinees, but also a great turnout after 8PM, as expected for this R-rated sequel. Fourteen percent came before 1PM yesterday, 30% came between 1P-5PM, 31% were there between 5PM and 8PM, while 25% came after 8PM. By comparison, Scream VI saw 33% of its admissions after 8PM.

Average ticket price for a John Wick: Chapter 4 regular ticket was $13.42, while premium tickets went for $17.08 apiece. So far, 32% of moviegoers have seen the film play in a premium format, paying an average of $2.99 more per ticket. Imax reports that at $12.7M WW, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the second-highest grossing Lionsgate title ever in their large format auditoriums. With $8.4M stateside in 400 Imax theaters, the fourthquel is the third-highest Imax opening for Lionsgate in U.S./Canada. Top markets for the Chad Stahelski-directed sequel in regards to admissions were LA, NYC, Dallas, Toronto, and San Francisco.

Back in December 2021, Lionsgate shifted John Wick: Chapter 4 off its previous Memorial Day weekend 2022 launch date to this weekend as the pic’s production was delayed, and Paramount had big footed that release date with Top Gun: Maverick. The first trailer made a debut at CinemaCon last spring, before being dropped during a Collider panel at San Diego Comic-Con with Chad Stahelski, and a surprise appearance by Keanu Reeves in Hall H. Lionsgate had a global screening and premiere strategy which was set to amplify audience and critical word of mouth, the wick for Wick being lit at a surprise SXSW screening with Reeves and Stahelski in attendance onstage.

The rest of the campaign was built around two pillars: one to reinforce that John Wick is a man, not a superhero, whose journey has been motivated by love and a painful loss. And two, that this movie would finally offer John Wick a path to freedom and peace. Everything that Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate Marketing President JP Richards, and Co-President Keri Moore and their team devised –from the moment of the full trailer to that trailer’s choice of music, to the hourglass image in the main one sheet, to the use of dogs in both creative and publicity, was connected to those pillars.

Reeves playing with puppies on his talk show tour:

Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian tells Deadline this morning, “What generally happens with franchises is that over time, they lose their allure and appeal, either by wearing out their welcome or under-delivering on the promise of a first installment. When the first John Wick opened in 2014 to $14.4M, it had a solid multiple (2.99x, $43M domestic). But where it became a phenomenon was at home, and once film fans discovered John Wick, they determined that it was the movie theater where they wanted to see Keanu Reeves work his magic, and thus John Wick: Chapter Two and each successive film enjoyed an incremental increase in box office.”

“The big screen and the small screen can be complementary and additive, not adversarial. It’s the small screen experience that drove the Wick franchise to increasing returns at the multiplex with each sequel. That’s incredibly rare,” adds Dergarabedian.

“It’s lightning in a bottle to have this kind of ongoing success outside of the superhero genre, and if you were to create the blueprint for the perfect box office beast is, John Wick is it!”

Chart with Sunday figures from studios:

1.) John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $29.4M, Sat $25.8M Sun $18.2M 3-day $73.5M/Wk 1

2.) Shazam! Fury of the Gods (WB) 4,071 theaters, Fri $2.37M (-80%), Sat $4.3M Sun $3M 3-day $9.7M (-68%), Total $46.3M/ Wk 2

3.) Scream VI (Par) 3,355 theaters (-321), Fri $2.46M (-53%) Sat $3.6M Sun $2.29M 3-day $8.4M (-52%), Total $89.9M/Wk 3

4.) Creed III (MGM) 3,207 theaters (-270), Fri $2.279M (-48%) Sat $3.7M Sun $2.3M 3-day $8.36M (-46%), Total $140.88M/Wk 4

5.) 65 (Sony) 2,786 (-619) theaters, Fri $865K (-45%), Sat $1.4M Sun $950K 3-day $3.25M (-44%), Total $27.8M/Wk 3

6.) Ant-man and the Wasp Quantumania (Dis) 1,915 (-735) theaters, Fri $609k (-48%) Sat $1.1M Sun $691K 3-day $2.42M (-42%), Total $209.8M/Wk 6

7.) Cocaine Bear (Uni) 2,207 (-480) theaters, Fri $600k (-45%) Sat $930K Sun $560K 3-day $2.09M (-47%)/Total $62.1M/Wk 5

8.) Jesus Revolution (LG) 1,964 theaters (-390), Fri $547K (-43%) Sat $810K Sun $643K 3-day $2M (-43%)/Total $49M/ Wk 5

9.) Champions (Foc) 1,917 (-1,122) theaters, Fri $420K (-52%) Sat $690k Sun $430K 3-day $1.54M (-50%)/Total $13.5M/Wk 3

10.) Avatar: The Way of Water (Dis) 935 theaters (-255), Fri $316K (-39%) Sat $636K Sun $448K 3-day $1.4M (-33%)Total $680.4M /Wk 15

Notables:

A Good Person (MGM) 530 theaters, Fri $275K, Sat $339K, Sun $220K 3-day $834K/Wk 1

The Lost King (IFC) 753 theaters, 3-day $575K/Wk 1

Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 607 (-1,026) theaters, Fri $124,8K Sat $190,7K Sun $129,7K 3-day $445,4K (-65%), Total $76.67M/Wk 52
Since arriving on PVOD in its 11th weekend back in early June, the multi-Oscar winner has racked up an additional $16.1M. Give a cheer for theatrical windows. The Daniels directed pic made $1.29M last weekend in its re-expansion after taking home Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

via Deadline