While the world waits on news that the “John Wick” film series will continue after ‘Chapter 4,’ Lionsgate is set to unleash the first spinoff film next year, titled “Ballerina.” So, as of now, if you want the ‘John Wick’ franchise to keep going, all eyes are on the performance of “Ballerina.” That’s why it makes sense that the studio would go to great lengths to ensure the success of the film.
According to a new report from The Wrap, Lionsgate and ‘John Wick’ filmmaker Chad Stahelski are doing whatever it takes to set up “Ballerina” for success. How far are they willing to go? Well, the report claims Stahelski went so far as to take over filmmaking duties from director Len Wiseman and reshoot “most of the movie” over a few months. This resulted in a delay of the release of “Ballerina” for a full year.
Reshoots are not a shocking revelation when it comes to huge tentpole films. Most major blockbusters have some sort of reshoot time. However, what is being reported about “Ballerina,” it appears Stahelski and the folks at Lionsgate were not happy with the film Wiseman shot, and are going the extra mile to ensure things turn out okay. Will that mean “Ballerina” will automatically be a massive success? Of course not. But it’s seemingly in a better place right now to perhaps do so.
Unfortunately, Stahelski’s time working on “Ballerina” has seemingly delayed production start time on his remake of “The Highlander.” That film was seemingly set up to begin production fairly soon, but now it won’t start production until sometime in 2025. The delay was so much that ‘Highlander’ actor Henry Cavill has found time to star in the upcoming “Voltron” film, which is expected to begin production this year.
Of course, when it comes to news like this, it’s highly unlikely we’ll get confirmation from Lionsgate or Stahelski. Most of the time, studios like to bury this sort of drama. We saw that with another Lionsgate film this year, “Borderlands.” That film was directed by Eli Roth, but there were extensive reshoots that were handled by director Tim Miller. Sadly, that didn’t save the film, as “Borderlands” is one of the biggest bombs of 2024.
“Ballerina” is expected to arrive in theaters on June 6, 2025.