These days, it’s not just enough to make a good movie and be done with it. It’s all about brand viability and finding ways maximize your IP to enhance the bottom line. It’s the kind of business talk that creatives don’t often like to think about, but if you’re going to work in the machinery of the studio system, it’s a grim reality. And so, when “John Wick” became a surprise breakout hit in 2014, it’s not a total surprise that next week, a sequel will be hitting the big screen. Nor is it a particular shock that Lionsgate has even more ideas for the franchise.
Chatting with Slashfilm, “John Wick: Chapter 2” director Chad Stahelski revealed that the filmmakers are still overflowing with ideas for the titular character, and might save some of their prequel thoughts for the small screen.
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“We basically almost have a prequel written, but we’d save that for other aspects of the property,” he explained. “Lionsgate is very interested in doing a ‘John Wick’ TV show, and that seems very appealing to us, to give those creative ideas to that entity, because I think in TV you could really expand on what that is, and greater than we could in just a two-hour film.”
A weekly dose of John Wick hanging out with his dog and taking care of bad guys would be just fine with us, though — and I’d never thought I’d write this — filling in the shoes of Keanu Reeves won’t be an easy task. His half-serious but self-aware take is what makes “John Wick” work, plus his distinct persona, and putting that in someone else’s hands might prove difficult (see “Lethal Weapon” or “Taken” and their unconvincing TV riffs on their cinematic counterparts). But if ‘Chapter 2’ is a big hit, I’d suspect that Lionsgate will keep the priority on another movie, so a proposed TV show could be a way off anyway.