John Wickwhat we didn’t expect
The universe John Wick celebrates its tenth anniversary and on this happy occasion Chad Stahelski generously shares the story of its genesis. Co-creator together with Derek Kolstad and David Leitch, Chad Stahelski is now the boss of the saga which so far has 4 films, a series, as well as the spin-off Dancer in theaters in 2025 and that has passed billions of dollars in global box office revenue. Very profitable today, although in 2014 it was difficult to put the first film on the screen, the production of which was laborious and which no one wanted.
Fortunately, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch were able to benefit from the solid help of their guardian angels. Eva Longoria thus saved filming from a sudden stop by writing a big check. And shortly thereafter they were also able to count on the precious advice of an acclaimed director: James Mangold.
A decisive editing session
Chad Stahelski explains a The Hollywood journalist of which the first changes John Wick they were simply catastrophic. They then turned to James Mangold, director of Logan AND Indiana Jones and the Clock of Destinywith whom they had worked Wolverine: Battle of the Immortals . With humor, he says:
You should have seen the first cuts… At our first screenings with our friends and families, people who love us, people were leaving. They were our friends. It was quite painful and we didn’t find our movie immediately.
We wanted to create a myth and the others wanted us to make a “film”. But we said, “We don’t care. We don’t want to do much with the plot,” and James Mangold understood that. The most comprehensive advice we received was mostly from him and this led to many changes in its structure. But it also gave us the confidence to say, “Yeah, this is weird. Let’s keep going.”
James Mangold’s advice was crucial, since as reported in They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete, Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action (St. Martin’s Press, 2022), editing was a challenge, with an overlong first version that had to be refined by keeping dialogue to a minimum.
Until the last moment – precisely at the presentation of the Fantastic Fest in Austin in mid-September 2014 -, with a minimum exploitation agreement signed with Lionsgate, nothing was guaranteed John Wick good welcome. The film was a great success during these festival screenings and Lionsgate then intensified its distribution by announcing its release in IMAX theaters at the beginning of October. On October 24th, John Wick released in theaters and success is immediate. Produced for $20 million, it was highly praised by critics, grossed $14 million in its first weekend – while analysts expected between $5 and $7 million in North American revenues – and concluded its worldwide release with $86 million. of dollars collected.
Source: Cine Serie
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