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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
Official logo
Directed byLen Wiseman
Written byShay Hatten[a]
Based onCharacters
by Derek Kolstad
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRomain Lacourbas
Edited byJason Ballantine
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • June 6, 2025 (2025-06-06)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50-80 million

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (or simply Ballerina) is an upcoming American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Len Wiseman and written by Shay Hatten. It is the fifth film in the John Wick franchise, serving as a spin-off set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. It stars Ana de Armas in the lead role, alongside Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Norman Reedus in supporting roles. Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick (in his final screen appearance), Ian McShane, and Keanu Reeves reprise their roles from the previous films.

Lionsgate acquired Hatten's spec script for the film in 2017, leading to him contributing to the final script for Parabellum and serving as the lead writer for Chapter 4. In October 2019, Wiseman was hired as director, with Chad Stahelski confirmed as a producer by May 2020. Ballerina was officially announced in April 2022, with de Armas confirmed to be replacing Unity Phelan, who portrayed the character in Parabellum, in the lead role; by that December, the rest of the main cast was rounded out. Principal photography began soon after, taking place in Prague, Czech Republic. Additional action sequences were shot starting in February 2024.

Ballerina is scheduled to be released on June 6, 2025.

Premise

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Taking place between the events of Parabellum and Chapter 4,[2] Eve Macarro, a ballerina-assassin, begins to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma and sets out to exact revenge for her father's death.[3]

Cast

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  • Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballerina who is beginning to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.[3] According to co-star Ian McShane, the character is under the protection of Winston and Charon in the New York Continental Hotel during the course of the film.[4]
  • Anjelica Huston as "the Director"[5]
  • Gabriel Byrne as the Chancellor,[6] the main antagonist of the film who leads a town against Macarro.[4][7]
  • Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in New York and friend of Winston Scott and acquaintance of John Wick.[8] This was Reddick's final appearance as Charon, and overall final on-screen appearance released posthumously.[9]
  • Catalina Sandino Moreno[10]
  • Norman Reedus as Pine, a mysterious man.[11] Reedus admired Keanu Reeves due to the demanding, "I-need-a-bottle-of-Advil-all-day-long type of job" the film series was. Reedus contrasted the tightly choreographed fight scenes in the film from the "loose" and "sloppy" ones in his series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–present).[12]
  • Ian McShane as Winston Scott, the enigmatic owner of the Continental Hotel and friend of John Wick.[13]
  • Keanu Reeves as John Wick, a professional hitman and legendary assassin who has gained a reputation for his skills and is on the run from the High Table.

Sharon Duncan-Brewster appears as Nogi, who instructs Eve and other trainees.[14] David Castañeda also appears.[15]

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]
Ana de Armas was cast in 2021 to play the titular character, a ballerina-assassin named Eve Macarro.

In July 2017, Lionsgate Films acquired Shay Hatten's action thriller Ballerina, with Thunder Road Films producing the film with Hatten rewriting the script to be a part of the John Wick franchise, with the concepts of Ballerina ultimately being written into the third main film, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), with a ballerina portrayed by Unity Phelan making an appearance.[16] At the end of the year, the script was voted onto The Black List of best unproduced screenplays in 2017.[17] By October 2019, Len Wiseman was hired to direct the film.[18] In May 2020, it was reported that the studio was looking for an actress to star in the film, with Chloë Grace Moretz as the template for the kind of talent they were looking for.[19] Stahelski met with Wiseman, and approached executives to hire the filmmaker. He confirmed that he and his team will work closely with Wiseman on the action sequences and stunts for the film, while acknowledging that Wiseman's filmmaking style will add variety to the franchise. At that point, Wiseman and Hatten were working on a newer draft of the script.[20] By October 2021, Ana de Armas entered negotiations to play the titular character, a ballerina-assassin.[21] By April 2022, Lionsgate officially announced the film at CinemaCon, and said that de Armas would star in the lead role.[22] In July 2022, Emerald Fennell was hired to contribute to the script as one of its writers.[23]

Filming

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Initially scheduled to commence in summer 2022,[22] principal photography officially began on November 7, 2022, in Prague, Czech Republic.[24][13][25] Throughout the month and in early December, it was announced that Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick had joined the cast and will reprise their roles from previous films of the franchise; as John Wick, Winston Scott, "the Director", and Charon, respectively;[13][26][5][8] Throughout December, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, and Gabriel Byrne joined the supporting cast in undisclosed roles.[10][27][28] During filming, Reeves was not able to adjust his shooting schedule to accept Lucasfilm's offer to play Jedi Master Sol in the Disney+ limited Star Wars series The Acolyte (2024), resulting in that part going to Lee Jung-jae instead.[29] Ballerina was in post-production in February 2023.[30] In February 2024, producer Chad Stahelski was working on additional action sequences for the film with director Len Wiseman.[31] By March, David Castañeda and Sharon Duncan-Brewster joined the cast.[15] Reportedly, Stahelski oversaw two to three months of reshoots, refilming the majority of the movie, with Wiseman not present on set.[32] Star Norman Reedus traveled from Japan to film his added fight scenes in Budapest.[12]

Music

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By April 2023, Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich were hired as the composers; Beltrami had previously worked with Wiseman on Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007).[33] Later, in September 2024, the duo was replaced by regular franchise composers Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard.[34]

Marketing

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The first marketing material for the film, shown at the April 2024 CinemaCon convention, was a short teaser trailer released to the closed-door audience.[35] Entertainment Weekly reported that the trailer included Charon, Winston, Norman Reedus's undisclosed character, and Wick in a cameo appearance at the end.[36] There, its title was presented as John Wick Presents: Ballerina.[7][37] Bleeding Cool called the footage "exactly what CinemaCon dreams are made of".[38] On September 26, 2024, the film's first trailer was released by Lionsgate, where the movie's official title was revealed to be From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.[39]

Release

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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is scheduled to be released in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom on June 6, 2025, after being delayed from its originally announced date of June 7, 2024.[40]

Potential sequel

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In March 2023, producer Erica Lee stated that the studio has plans to develop a sequel with de Armas reprising her role.[41]

Notes

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  1. ^ Rebecca Angelo, Lauren Schuker Blum, Emerald Fennell, Michael Finch and Len Wiseman are credited by the Writers Guild of America West with "additional literary material (not on-screen)".[1]

References

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  1. ^ "Ballerina". Writers Guild of America West. August 16, 2024. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
  2. ^ Mboho, Edidiong (December 5, 2022). "Keanu Reeves Reveals When John Wick Spinoff Ballerina Takes Place". Collider. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  3. ^ a b McArdle, Tommy (September 26, 2024). "Ana de Armas Kicks Ass and Meets Keanu Reeves' John Wick in Eye-Popping Ballerina Trailer". People. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  4. ^ a b McPherson, Chris (January 22, 2024). "Ian McShane Reveals Why 'Ballerina' Has to Be Set Before 'John Wick 4'". Collider. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Kit, Borys (November 21, 2022). "Anjelica Huston Joins Ana de Armas in Lionsgate's John Wick Spinoff Ballerina (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Ouellette, Jennifer (September 26, 2024). "Tiny dancer: Ana de Armas is a fierce assassin in Ballerina trailer". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Lussier, Germain (April 10, 2024). "John Wick Presents Ballerina Looks Like a Genuine Wick Flick". Gizmodo. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Rubin, Rebecca (December 2, 2022). "Lance Reddick to Reprise John Wick Role in Ana de Armas-Led Spinoff Ballerina (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  9. ^ Berman, Marc (March 17, 2023). "Lance Reddick Dead: 'The Wire', 'Fringe' And 'John Wick' Star Was 60". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  10. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 7, 2022). "Ana De Armas 'John Wick' Spinoff 'Ballerina' Adds Catalina Sandino Moreno". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  11. ^ Holub, Christian (September 26, 2024). "Ana de Armas enters the John Wick universe in first Ballerina trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  12. ^ a b McPherson, Chris (June 11, 2024). "Norman Reedus Teases the "High Octane" Action Scenes in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina'". Collider. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
  13. ^ a b c Borys, Kit (November 8, 2022). "Ian McShane Joins Ana de Armas in Lionsgate's John Wick Spinoff Ballerina (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  14. ^ Paul, Larisha (September 26, 2024). "Ana de Armas Joins John Wick's Criminal Underworld in 'Ballerina' Trailer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Grobar, Matt (March 6, 2024). "David Castañeda & Sharon Duncan-Brewster Board Lionsgate's 'Ballerina' Amid Reshoots". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 6, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  16. ^ Kit, Borys (July 25, 2017). "Lionsgate Plotting John Wick Universe With Ballerina Action Script (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  17. ^ Hipes, Patrick (December 11, 2017). "The Black List 2017 Screenplays: Post-WWII Tale 'Ruin' Is No. 1 – Full Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  18. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 8, 2019). "Len Wiseman Set To Direct Female-Centric John Wick Spinoff Ballerina". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  19. ^ Campell, Jacob (May 5, 2020). "Ballerina: John Wick Spinoff Eyeing Chloë Grace Moretz In Lead Role". Full Circle Cinema. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  20. ^ Davids, Brian (May 20, 2020). "Filmmaker Chad Stahelski on John Wick 4 and His Matrix 4 Involvement". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  21. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (October 28, 2021). "Ana De Armas In Talks To Lead John Wick Spinoff Ballerina; Movie Spearheads Bumper AFM Slate For Lionsgate". Deadline. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  22. ^ a b Anderson, Jenna (April 28, 2022). "Ana de Armas Confirmed to Star in John Wick Spinoff Ballerina". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  23. ^ Meltzer, Marisa (July 13, 2022). "Ana's Getaway". Elle. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  24. ^ Pirodsky, Jason (November 5, 2022). "John Wick spinoff Ballerina, with Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves, kicks off Prague shoot". The Prague Reporter. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  25. ^ Welk, Brian (November 5, 2022). "Lionsgate Flirting with Major John Wick Video Game". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  26. ^ Maggie, Lovitt (November 8, 2022). "Keanu Reeves Returns as John Wick in Ballerina Spinoff [Exclusive]". Collider. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  27. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 13, 2022). "Walking Dead Star Norman Reedus Joins John Wick Spinoff Ballerina". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  28. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 20, 2022). "'John Wick' Spinoff 'Ballerina' Expands Troupe With Gabriel Byrne". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  29. ^ Sneider, Jeff (August 23, 2024). "Inside the Decision to Cancel 'The Acolyte,' Who Nearly Played Sol, and the Future of Lucasfilm". The InSneider. Archived from the original on August 24, 2024. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  30. ^ Peralta, Diego (February 15, 2023). "This Is Why Keanu Reeves Wanted John Wick: Chapter 4 to Remain a Theatrical Release". Collider. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  31. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 21, 2024). "'Ballerina' Dances Into Summer 2025 As 'The Crow' Swoops Into John Wick Spinoff's June 2024 Date". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  32. ^ "Studio Slump: Lionsgate's Last 6 Films Have All Been Box Office Busts". The Wrap. October 14, 2024. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  33. ^ "Marco Beltrami & Anna Drubich to Score Len Wiseman's 'Ballerina'". Film Music Reporter. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  34. ^ "Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard Scoring 'John Wick' Spin-Off Film 'Ballerina'". Film Music Reporter. September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  35. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Tartaglione, Nancy (April 10, 2024). "'John Wick' Spinoff' 'Ballerina' First Look Drops At Lionsgate's CinemaCon Session; Keanu Reeves Appears In Clip". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  36. ^ Romano, Nick (April 10, 2024). "Ana de Armas' Ballerina meets Keanu Reeves' John Wick in fiery CinemaCon footage". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  37. ^ Truitt, Brian (April 10, 2024). "He's back! Keanu Reeves' John Wick returns in the Ana de Armas action spinoff 'Ballerina'". USA Today. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  38. ^ Booth, Kaitlyn (April 10, 2024). "Ballerina Footage Is Exactly What CinemaCon Dreams Are Made Of". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  39. ^ Franklin, McKinley; Moreau, Jordan (September 26, 2024). "'Ballerina' Trailer: Ana de Armas Meets John Wick, Slices Necks and Douses a Flamethrower in Badass Spinoff". Variety. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  40. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 21, 2024). "'Ballerina' Dances Into Summer 2025 As 'The Crow' Swoops Into John Wick Spinoff's June 2024 Date". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  41. ^ Oddo, Marco Vito (March 27, 2023). "New 'John Wick'-Universe Film in Development [Exclusive]". Collider. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
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