John Wick fans will have to wait a little longer to see the next instalment as Keanu Reeves' titular hitman continues his quest for vengeance.
Lionsgate announced Wednesday (Dec 22) that the action movie would push back nearly a year from its planned May 27, 2022 release date.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will now debut in theatres on March 24, 2023, according to a new video teaser.
Directed Chad Stahelski, the fourth chapter in the John Wick saga stars Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, and Ian McShane.
Michael Finch and Shay Hatten wrote the screenplay with Stahelski, Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee producing and Reeves and Louise Rosner as executive producers.
The John Wick franchise has netted more than US$584.9mil (RM2.45bil) at the worldwide box office, with Chapter 3 - Parabellum earning a franchise-high US$327mil (RM1.37bil) worldwide.
In September, Top Gun: Maverick pushed its long-awaited release to May 27, 2022, with the move to Memorial Day weekend pushing star Tom Cruise's other franchise film Mission impossible 7 to Sept 30, 2022.
With John Wick's subsequent move to March 2023, the action flick's current opening weekend competition is Sony's yet-to-be-titled George Foreman biopic.
News of John Wick's delay comes as Reeves celebrates the release of the fourth chapter of The Matrix series, another one of the movie star's most iconic franchises.
The Matrix Resurrections launched in theatres on Dec 22.
At one point, The Matrix Resurrections and John Wick 4 were set to arrive in theaters on the same day – May 21, 2021, before Matrix moved to December after Covid-19 affected production schedules.
Filming on John Wick 4 got underway in June 2021, after Reeves wrapped up his return as Neo in Lana Wachowski's Matrix sequel.
As an Easter egg for eagle-eyed fans, Stahelski appears as Chad in The Matrix Resurrections after working as Reeves' stunt double and the stunt coordinator on the original trilogy. – Reuters
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