Following an underwhelming debut last week,From the World of John Wick: Ballerinais proving once again that audiences aren’t particularly interested in prequels, especially if they focus on new characters.Ballerinais performing along the lines ofFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga, which debuted to positive reviews a couple of years ago but failed to crack the $100 million mark domestically. StarringAna de Armasin the titular role,Ballerinaserves as the first theatrical spin-off to the massively successful John Wick franchise, which has grossed a combined total of over $1 billion worldwide. The stakes forBallerinawere sky-high for two reasons.
Firstly, Lionsgate is coming off of a truly terrible 2024, when its combined revenue across multiple titlesstruggled to cross the $200 million mark domestically. Secondly, themain John Wick franchiseseemingly ended following the fourth film. A new movie has since been announced, but if the series wants to expand, it’s going to have to rely on characters other thanKeanu Reeves’ assassin going forward. De Armas’ Ballerina was an option, but the movie’s performance so far is raising doubts.Ballerinahas generated just over $41 million so far domestically, and another $50 million from overseas markets, fora cumulative global haul of $91 million. The movie still hasn’t overtaken Reeves’ originalJohn Wick, but has now passed one of the rare “certified fresh” movies to have been headlined byJason Statham:The Bank Job.
Produced ona reported budget of $90 millionthanks to significant reshoots, the movie opened to mostly positive reviews. It holds a 76%Rotten Tomatoes score, with Collider’sRoss Bonaimecalling it“a worthy entry in the John Wick canon,” and praising its “over-the-top fights and ludicrously fun action scenarios.” The audiences were even more appreciative ofBallerina, awarding it an excellent 93% score on the aggregator website. But this appreciation doesn’t appear to be translating into box office returns.
Directed byLen Wiseman, who remains best known for the Underworld trilogy andLive Free or Die Hard, the movie was reportedly overhauled by franchise overlordChad Stahelskiin post-production. New action scenes were added, and Reeves’ role was beefed up. Whatever they did theoretically paid off, except at the box office. Also starringNorman Reedus,Anjelica Huston,Gabriel Byrne,Ian McShane, and the lateLance Reddick,Ballerinais playing in theaters.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
A young female assassin seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.
