John Wick is only called that because of Keanu Reeves. The very successful film from 2014 was going to be called something completely different until the actor forced production to change the title.
And he didn’t force the change on purpose. While giving interviews for a new action film he was starring in, Reeves made a mistake when revealing the title of the film.
He was supposed to be out promoting Scorn, which would possibly be just the first chapter in a series of films created by producer Basil Iwanyk and screenwriter Derek Kolstad.
Rather than correctly telling people that the name of the film was Scorn, though, Reeves kept referring to it as John Wick. From there on out, the name ended up sticking.
John Wick becomes title of Keanu Reeves action movie
“The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick,” Kolstad told ComicBook.com. “Marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of Scorn.’ I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.”
And thus the story of John Wick was born.
Kolstad went on to explain how the change was a good one and that it has helped the series of films become an even larger part of pop culture.
After the mild success of John Wick in theaters, it did even better in rentals and DVD purchases. From there, the franchise really took off.
John Wick: Chapter 2 came out in 2017 and earned just over $171 million worldwide. That spawned John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, with the third film bringing in a massive $325 million worldwide.
Each successive film has done better than the previous one, spurred on by great additions to the cast, great storytelling, and the way which Keanu Reeves tackles the character.
When does John Wick 4 come out?
John Wick: Chapter 4 is slated for release on May 27, 2022. That’s nearly two years down the road, but they need the situation around the world to clear up before filming can take place. Plus, films like these take a lot of time in the editing room.
As for the title for John Wick 4? It is reportedly going to be left up to director Chad Stahelski to come up with the final piece of the title. He was the one who worked Parabellum into Chapter 3 and may have an equally difficult name to pronounce for the fourth installment of the franchise.
Earlier this year, we told how some on-stage flirting at the Oscars between Reeves and Diane Keaton led to the writer of Something’s Gotta Give joking about whether their characters should have ended up together in the 2003 romcom.