We criticize studios sometimes for jumping the gun. They see the success of one movie as proof audiences are dying for a franchise, when in fact they want nothing of the sort and the sequel fails. It happened a lot this past summer (TMNT 2, Independence Day 2, Alice in Wonderland 2), and hopefully it won't happen with John Wick: Chapter 2 which debuted footage over the weekend to the salivating crowd at NYCC. Whatever happens, Lionsgate is already eager for more and director Chad Stahelski tells Collider he's been approached about a third movie...
“The studio has asked us to put our heads together and see if we can come up with something. Winston’s [McShane] is a big part of the next one, so is Lance Reddick. We’ve got some ideas.”
McShane and Reddick's characters are part of the awesomely stylish hitman hotel known as The Continental. Mostly they've been left out of any serious throwdowns but that may be changing. Stahelski adds that coming up with a plan for the upcoming sequel wasn't that easy. They can't just have Keanu shoot a bunch of dudes and look cool while doing it? It needs a plot?
“When it came to coming up with a story idea, we had like ten bad ideas, and they we were like, ‘fuck it,’ what would have just happened the next day. Once we stopped worrying about ourselves, it was fun. Is it as good as the first one? I don’t know, that’s personal opinion. Did we go better in some ways? Yes. Did we explore the character more? Yes. It’s better, I think, technically. Is the enjoyment better? Yes, it’s there, but it’s completely different.”
So let's just hope it holds up compared to the original. I think that's a good place to keep our expectations for now. John Wick 2 opens February 10th 2017.
