At $73.5 Million, 'John Wick: Chapter 4' Is a Lionsgate Triumph

In a company that lives and dies by sequels, perhaps the best news about the tremendous opening weekend of 'John Wick: Chapter 4' (Lionsgate) is that for the third time in four weeks, a sequel opened to a much better than the previous installment.

“Wick 4” opened to $73.5 million, well ahead of earlier strong starts from “Creed 3” (MGM) and “Scream 6” (Paramount). This is by far the best initial take of the "Wick" series. And it's a welcome return to form for Lionsgate, which in recent years has thrived with huge franchises like "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games".

This is their biggest film since the 2015 'Hunger Games' final. This company was a vital addition to cinema revenue before Covid. But since "Knives Out" in 2019, their biggest grosser before that was "The Jesus Revolution" with $49 million (and still on release).

Besides its record-breaking debut, “Wick 4” also earned its highest Cinemascore (A), Metacritic (78) and most premium screens (1,697) results. It added another $64 million in overseas openings, ranking #1 in all 71 territories.

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Best of all, with an estimated production budget of $100 million, it has a lower break-even point than many franchise titles. Proof of its cross-platform potential is shown by its PVOD pre-sales: it briefly hit #1 on iTunes this weekend.

This performance is similar to another R-rated action hit - "Mad Max: Fury Road". Its 2o15 release saw an opening of $45 million and an impressive overrun.

Reported audience demographics show strong attendance dominated by male moviegoers, ages 18-34, non-white. This bodes well for Universal's upcoming "Fast X" (opening May 19).

"Wick 4" earned 62% of the weekend's total of approximately $117 million. No other film has managed more than $10 million. Biggest blame goes to “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (Warner Bros. Discovery), which fell 68% in its second weekend after a weak start. The DC Comics title is eyeing a lower domestic total than $70 million.

Last entries "Scream" and "Creed" followed with drops affected by the strength of "Wick 4". "Creed 6" is heading for the national best of $160 million, while "Scream 6" will top $100 million.

The weekend total keeps 2023 so far about 27% ahead of last year, about the pace of recent weeks. If this holds, the 2023 national total would be around $9.4 billion. Our four-week rolling comparison with the same most recent pre-Covid dates comes out at 69%.

Three new titles were screened in hundreds of theaters this weekend. "A Good Person" (MGM) by Zack Braff starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman grossed $834,000 in 530 theaters. "The Lost King" (IFC) by Stephen Frears with Sally Hawkins made $575,000 in 753.