With John Wick Chapter 4 set to be released in cinemas this weekend, the action franchise has come a long way. ten years ago. Keanu Reeves’ career took on even greater heights when he signed on for what would become his first John Wick film. A hitman revenge thriller with positive B-movie reviews that nearly closed just weeks before shooting began, the film struggled to secure cinema distribution.
The reason for the studio’s lack of interest was that executives were disapproving of the action movie being made by first-time directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. Furthermore, they were concerned that Reeves’ latest film was underperforming at the box office.
Eventually, Lionsgate Films bought the distribution rights, saving John Wick from Oblivion direct-to-DVD just two months before the film hits theaters in October 2014.
The marketing campaign kicked in and was able to help turn the movie’s image from a flick into a decent thriller with the star getting underway in Keanaissance. However, did you know that the movie had a completely different name before Reeves stopped using it?
Read more: First reactions to John Wick 4 are thrilling – ‘Best of the series’
John Wick creator Derek Kolstad’s original script was called Scorn. However, Reeves continued to call the film “John Wick” during marketing.
“The only reason I called him John Wick was because Keanu kept referring to him as John Wick,” the screenwriter previously told ComicBook. “The marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars’ worth of free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of sarcasm. “I can’t imagine it’s about scorn now.”
To the star’s credit, the title change has been a huge success as his character has become a hugely popular franchise IP with each movie becoming more successful than the last.
John Wick: Chapter 4 hits theaters this Friday.
