‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Blazes Past $400M Global Box Office

The John Wick movie franchise has officially reached the billion mark!

Fueled by the strong performance of John Wick: Chapter 4, Lionsgate’s John Wick franchise has crossed the $1B mark at the worldwide box office. The Keanu Reeves-led series’ total take to date now stands at $1,011,319,297 global.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “John Wick” is officially a billion-dollar franchise. Ticket sales for Lionsgate’s Keanu Reeves-led action series have surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, with its tally standing at $1.011 billion across four films. It was carried across the coveted milestone by “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which is now the highest grossing with $425 million to date. The latest entry, which is the most expensive with its $100 million price tag, opened in March to $73.5 million, notching a new domestic franchise record. “John Wick” is one of the rare franchises that has gotten more successful with each installment. The first movie tapped out with $86.1 million in 2014 but it became a sleeper hit on home entertainment, while the 2017 sequel ended its run with $174.3 million. 2019’s “Parabellum,” which is the highest grossing entry prior to “Chapter 4,” left the big screen with $328.3 million globally.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Two Japanese films by internationally renowned auteurs — “Monster” by Koreeda Hirokazu and “Kubi” by Kitano Takeshi — are in the Cannes lineup this year, and both carry with them big box office expectations in Japan.  “Monster,” which is screening in competition, will be released on June 2 by Gaga and Toho, the latter Japan’s largest distributor and theater chain operator. Koreeda’s two previous films — “The Truth” (2019), shot in France, and “Broker” (2022), filmed South Korea — were both box office disappointments in his home market. “Monster,” however, promises a return to the earnings form of his 2018 Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters,” whose $34 million cumulative total was the fourth-highest among Japanese releases that year. 

While it might seem that Fast X has run out of gas in the states, it’s totally turbo boasted overseas as the tenth installment in the Universal franchise is eyeing a an offshore start of $235M to 60M+ domestic. That will get Fast X to $295M worldwide, making it the third highest global start for a Fast & Furious movie after Fate of the Furious ($541.9M) and Furious 7 ($397.6M).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3” enjoyed a second weekend on top of the mainland China box office, as all top five placed films remained unchanged and audiences await “Fast & Furious 10.” “Guardians Vol 3” earned $19.0 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was a decent week-on-week hold, representing a drop of only 32% from its debut weekend, following a solid but unspectacular start. And it gives the film a total of $58.7 million after ten days in mainland Chinese theaters. Imax screens accounted for $3 million of the film’s weekend score in China and lifted the film’s Imax total in China to $10.4 million, which Imax calculates as 18% of its China total.

In a rare weekend with fewer new studio wide releases, IFC Films had a one-two punch at the box office with Matt Johnson’s film BlackBerry grossing $473k nationwide in 450 theaters, for a U.S. per theater average of $1.05k and cracking the top ten on Friday. It will gross an estimated $740k in North America this weekend, with Elevation Pictures handling Canada.

Refresh for latest…: After crossing the $300M mark globally through Monday last week, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has thrust to another milestone. The James Gunn-directed threequel handily crossed the half a billion mark in the sophomore frame and now sits at an estimated $528.8M global through Sunday. Of that, $213.2M is from domestic and $315.6M at the international box office. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Box office headlines have lately been dominated by Hollywood movies like Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which has become the first movie of the year to hit $1 billion, and Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.” But a closer look at the global box office recovery indicates that Tinseltown does not have the field to itself. In fact, international films and markets — not the United States — are driving the current global box office recovery. In some territories, local-language titles are even dominant over Hollywood releases. And the overall scale of overseas ticket sales now dwarfs that of North America by more than two to one.

EXCLUSIVE: While the title character ended John Wick: Chapter 4 under a headstone, the John Wick franchise is alive and kicking for Lionsgate. This week, Universal brass got a first look at Ballerina, the Len Wiseman-helmed spinoff film that stars Ana de Armas and brings back Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, the late Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston. The big question is, after the last film grossed over $400 million on a $90 million budget, what right minded studio would retire a franchise that just turned in its highest gross and best reviews?

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £12 million ($15.2 million) opening, according to numbers released by Comscore. The latest Marvel Studios release debuted at Number 1 with an 72% market share, according to Disney, and had the biggest three-day opening weekend of 2023. In its fifth weekend, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” collected £1.3 million in second place for a total of £49 million. In third position, in its third weekend, Studiocanal’s “Evil Dead Rise” earned £493,732 for a total of £4.4 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” gave the South Korean box office its biggest weekend of the year, with a $10.3 million start. The film played on more than 1,800 screens and enjoyed a 46% share of the overall market between Friday and Sunday, according to data supplied by Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. After a year of struggle for the theatrical business in Korea, the opening by “Guardians” was twice that of “The Super Mario Bros Movie” and nearly four times bigger than the next biggest individual title debut of 2023 (“The First Slam Dunk” in the first week of January scored $2.61 million). Over its opening five days, “Guardians” managed $13.2 million, making it the seventh highest grossing film of the year at the end of its first weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Super Mario Bros Movie” and a local sports movie “Dream” gave the South Korean box office some bounce on their first weekend on release. Opening in Korea on Wednesday, some three weeks after the beginning of its international and North American campaigns, “Super Mario” earned $4.67 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film has a cumulative of $5.76 million over its opening five days, plus previews. The film’s weekend numbers are the second highest opening tally recorded by any film this year in Korea. And its weekend score represented a comfortable 40% market share.

Refresh for latest…: It was just a matter of time. With estimates through Sunday, Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is expected to cross $1B global tomorrow, becoming the first release of 2023 to the milestone, and the fifth of the pandemic era. It is getting there in 26 days. Wahoo!

quarterly earnings report.Imax reported quarterly revenue of $86.9 million and earnings of $5.1 million or 4 cents per share on a diluted basis and 16 cents per share on an adjusted basis. That beat Wall Street projections of $77.5 million in revenue and adjusted EPS of 15 cents per share, according to analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie has notched yet another milestone, crossing the $900M mark globally with Tuesday’s grosses included. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The highly-anticipated Japanese animated feature film “The First Slam Dunk” dominated the mainland China cinema box office in its opening weekend. It broke multiple records as it did so. The film scored $38.5 million (RMB266 million) over the Friday to Sunday weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. However, it opened on Thursday, a day earlier than is the norm in China, and has accumulated $55.2 million over the opening four-day frame. The film is based on IP that is well-known to a generation of comic book fans and TV audiences in China (early middle-aged men were reported to have been particularly interested) and has already proved a hit in other parts of Asia. (Comscore estimates that the film has grossed $211 million worldwide.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The South Korean cinema box office fell to its lowest level of the year over the latest weekend. Nationwide theatrical earnings in a territory which before COVID was the world’s fourth largest were barely over $6 million. “John Wick: Chapter 4” lead the weekend chart from Japanese anime “Suzume” and Korean sports drama “Rebound” in a top three repeat from a week earlier. “John Wick 4” earned $2.51 million in its second weekend of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a 38% week-on-week decline and represented a 41% share of the total Korean box office market. It also gave the film a cumulative total of $9.73 million since release on April 12.

Revising its projection from December last year, Gower Street Analytics has increased its estimate for global box office across 2023. The London-based firm now expects worldwide receipts to hit $32B for the year. The updated projection comes as the industry gathers in Las Vegas on the eve of CinemaCon and as The Super Mario Bros Movie is poised to be the first $1B global grosser of 2023.

Refresh for latest…: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie continues its global domination, now with an estimated $871.8M through Sunday. Of that, $437.5M is from the international box office. The next worldwide benchmark of $900M will hit in the next days. It is only a matter of time for the Bros to get to $1B, particularly as Korea and Japan are due to release this week.