It’s been an uneven SXSW: as the movie side kicked off with Paramount/eOne’s opening night Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Thieves, there were no big marquee photos in the studio on Saturday and Sunday; the Oscars scheduling conflict providing a wrench to the festival’s momentum which is usually a one-two-three punch throughout the weekend.
However, tonight’s surprise last-minute Lionsgate screening John Wick: Chapter 4 got the festival’s fanboy and fangirl electricity back on track with the rolling laughs and rolling cheers that are the standards of a classic SXSW premiere, with star Keanu Reeves and filmmaker Chad Stahelski on stage at Paramount. The film even received a short standing ovation during the credits.
Stahelski referenced how important it was: the first John Wick debuted in Austin, TX nine years ago (but at Fantastic Fest). It was just to bring Chapter 4 back.
Without giving too much away, Reeves explained why he decided to do a fourth sequel to the crowd during the pic’s Q&A (the sequel lasts 10 minutes before three hours): “For him to get his freedom from a in a way, that was the reason for telling the story.”
Reeves revealed he had a cameo in the John Wick spin off The ballerina when asked by a fan how the hitman will appear in future iterations of the franchise. Although it was long believed that he would make an appearance in the movie Ana de Armas, Reeves officially confirmed this rumor tonight at the Paramount Theater in Austin.
Here are more excerpts from the post-screening Q&A of John Wick: Chapter 4:
Reeves said he was excited to play the “spoken and outspoken” parts of the show, referencing a moment in the first movie with Lance Reddick’s character where John Wick puts the coin on his desk. “It was a pure and simple gesture,” the actor said.
“It shows up in all the relationships in the movie where everyone sees that detail in the world behind the world,” he continued.
One fan shouted, “Bring Constantine back!”
“I’m trying,” Reeves replied.
Lionsgate was here last year with the Nicolas Cage satire The unbearable weight of massive talent, who also performed with a feverish tone, and the studio has the Asian American female comedy Stroll here later this week.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is set to open March 24 with a franchise of between $60 million and $70 million at the domestic box office. Note that this is much more than the domestic box office of the fourth Matrix, The Matrix Resurrectionswhich grossed $37.6 million in the US, hampered by a day-and-date theatrical release with HBO Max.