John Wick 4 box office creates a franchise record, but it’s still not enough

While The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues to dominate the box office, John Wick 4 has also been pulling sufficient crowds into the theaters. It has become the biggest movie of the John Wick franchise, being the first to cross the $400 million milestone.

Produced on a budget of $100 million, John Wick: Chapter 4 opened with $73 million at the domestic box office. So far, the R-Rated outing has brought in $176 million domestically and $402 million globally. These are the best results a John Wick movie has ever produced.

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Comparing John Wick 4 with the past three outings

John Wick Chapter 4 poster (Image via Lionsgate)

The original John Wick got a $20-30 million budget and brought back $14 million in its opening weekend. It earned $86 million worldwide, of which $43 million came from North America. With this profitability, John Wick: Chapter 2 got an increased budget of $40 million. It opened with $30 million and raked in $92 million domestically and $171 million worldwide.

Following the success, Lionsgate gave John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum an increased budget of $75 million, and it ended up making $327 million worldwide. The domestic market showed an opening of $56 million, and Parabellum’s domestic run ended with $171 million.

So, John Wick Chapter 4 has set a new high for the franchise. But considering that the franchise kept almost doubling its growth with every movie, John Wick 4’s numbers have turned out to be on the lower end of Lionsgate’s high expectations, especially after getting a massive budget of $100 million.

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Why John Wick 4 couldn’t grow bigger

Keanu Reeves in Chapter 4 still (Image via Lionsgate)

With its $400 million run at the box office, John Wick 4 might still show profitability after generating more revenue from digital and streaming releases and deducting the cut of theater chains and all other expenses. However, that profit will not be as high as Lionsgate would have expected after investing a huge sum in the project.

John Wick 4 was also the most successful film of the franchise amongst critics, but despite having its huge opening of $73 million, it dropped by 61% and only brought in $28 million in its second weekend. This drop wasn’t because people lacked interest in the film, but it was due to the massively cluttered market it opened in.

March released four other major movies before John Wick 4. It was then followed by Dungeons & Dragons, and Super Mario Bros., which caused it to lose its premium screens within a week. That was bad because the film earned a lot on its opening weekend because of those screens. Then the second-weekend numbers dropped because Dungeons & Dragons took over those screens.

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Why John Wick 4 should have been released in April or August

Keanu Reeves in Chapter 4 still (Image via Lionsgate)

Super Mario Bros. came out in the first week of April and was practically unchallenged throughout the month. It retained its premium screens and entered the Billion Dollar Club before the month ended. John Wick 4, on the other hand, came out in a very competitive market, which made people forget about it after the first weekend.

If Lionsgate had given the film proper breathing room, it would have performed much better. Ideally, April 14 would have been a great release date for the film as it would have arrived after Super Mario Bros. and retained its premium screens until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. This release could have ensured a $500 million run for Chapter 4.

If not April, then mid-August would have also been a great release window because then it would have skipped the entire summer competition and could have attracted more people to watch the film. Furthermore, John Wick 4’s August release would have also hyped up The Continental prequel series that will arrive in September.