The Baba Yaga’s legacy continues as a new Continental resident hits the screens with Ballerina. Ana De Armas follows up her impressive action scene in No Time to Die with a full-blown action vehicle that’s set in the John Wick universe. Our EIC Chris Bumbray had a blast with the movie, saying in his review, “Ballerina is one of the more satisfying franchise spin-offs in recent memory. In this era of IP, every studio is desperate to max out the potential sequels and spinoffs their key franchises can handle, and Lionsgate has a whole slew planned around the John Wick franchise. Yet, what makes Ballerina different is that this doesn’t feel like much of a derivative of the franchise.”
While this isn’t a true Keanu Reeves film, he’s been a big part of the marketing in order to entice audiences who yearn for more Wick action and to hammer home that Ballerina takes place in the same universe. In fact, the full title in the promotions display, “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.” Will the draw pay off? According to Deadline, the early Thursday preview totals at the box office is estimated to be somewhere around $3.5 million to $4 million. This also includes special fan screenings that were screened on Wednesday night at 7 pm. The early Thursday showtimes would start at 6 pm.
Lionsgate has been seeing a rocky run with titles like Borderlands, The Crow, Killer’s Game and Megalopolis released this past year, which all became horrible flops at the box office. As far as franchises go, the John Wick series has been lucrative for the studio as John Wick: Chapter 4 crossed the franchise into billion-dollar territory. However, for Ballerina, after news of delays and reshoots, the hope is for the film to reach somewhere around $30 million this weekend. Its main competition is a continuing strong performance from the Disney live-action Lilo & Stitch remake.
Ballerina is getting a solid response as the critic’s aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes is a certified fresh 72% and the audience rating has reached 93%. During the talk about the future of the franchise, director Chad Stahelski was recently asked if a John Wick 5 is still a possibility. The franchise maestro answered, “The studio would very much will it into existence, I’m sure, at some point. Look, they’ve been great and they’ve asked us to really try and we have a really good couple of ideas and we’re going to try.”
