'John Wick' Cinematic Universe to Expand With Female-Led Action Flick 'Ballerina'
The "John Wick" franchise is building its own cinematic universe. Lionsgate plans to expand the assassin's world with the addition of a spin-off movie called "Ballerina."
According to reports, Lionsgate has won the bidding for the "Ballerina" script against Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio tapped Thunder Road to produce the film since it succeeded in producing the "John Wick" movies. The plan is to spin-off "Ballerina" into the world of John Wick.
The film has been described as similar to the 1990s female assassin movie "La Femme Nikita" from Luc Besson. It tells the story of a woman raised as an assassin while young, who goes on the hunt for the people who murdered her family.
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Details regarding casting, director and movie release date have not yet been announced. It is believed that the studios pursued "Ballerina" because of a strong demand for female-led empowering stories like "Wonder Woman" and "Atomic Blonde."
Shay Hatten, 23, wrote and sold the screenplay to "Ballerina." He currently works for Robert Downey Jr.'s production outfit, Team Downey.
"John Wick" from Chad Stahelski and David Leitch was first released in 2014. Keanu Reeves played the titular role as the retired assassin seeking vengeance.
"John Wick" received both box-office and critical acclaim, and raked four times more than its production cost. The sequel, which ran in theaters in early 2017, also became a box-office hit and earned almost $170 million globally. A third "John Wick" film is currently under development.
A TV series is also being planned with Reeves potentially doing a cameo. Tentatively called "The Continental," the show will delve into the world of assassins introduced in the second movie.
"It's very tied to the film [in that] it's about the Continentals all over the world, how certain people come into that world, and what happens in relation to those people, which is cool," Stahelski said.
"John Wick" will also be released in comic book form this September. It will explore the character's origin.
