Lionsgate‘s From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hit three-weekend tracking Thursday with a projected $35 million-$40 million three-day debut.
The Len Wiseman-directed movie, which underwent additional photography from director and John Wick architect Chad Stahelski, finally hits theaters June 6, a year after its previously scheduled opening.
Currently, the R-rating action title starring Ana de Armas and including a cameo by John Wick himself Keanu Reeves is solid with men over 25 in first choice, with both good unaided awareness with the overall over-25 crowd.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (93% on PostTrak, and 82% definite recommend) drew 48% men over 25 (versus part 3’s 45%) and 22% women over 25, as well as 22% men under 25. Diversity demos were massive on the John Wick movie, which pulled in 22% Latino and Hispanic, 21% Asian American and a very good 19% Black moviegoer turnout when it debuted in 2023. The fourthquel hit an all-time opening record for the Thunder Road-produced franchise at $73.8M.
Ballerina‘s opening is north of John Wick: Chapter 2‘s $30.2M, which is the second-best start for the shoot-’em-up series. At $35M-$40M, this is where spinoffs live, i.e., Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ($44.6M) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ($42.1M). As we always say, it’s still early in the campaign, and following the kickass footage Lionsgate unveiled at CinemaCon back in April, Oscar nominee de Armas has been working it since then with BTS footage and more on social media. The reason why Ballerina is wedged here in a very competitive June is due to the fact that Reeves had a spot in his schedule to promote the film. Ballerina with reshoots cost between $80M-$90M, we hear. Lionsgate always sells off foreign to fund its movies, retaining U.S. and UK rights.
The John Wick franchise counts $1.03 billion at the global box office with John Wick: Chapter 4 the highest-grossing title in the series at $440M-plus and 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Benicio del Toro in ‘The Phoenician Scheme’
TPS Productions/Focus Features
Also going wide on June 6 is Focus Features’ Wes Anderson movie The Phoenician Scheme, which has its world premiere Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. The rollout is similar to Asteroid City two years ago, with a limited launch May 30 followed by a wide break the next weekend. High single digits looks to be the sweet spot for Phoenician Scheme. Asteroid City did a $9M wide opening after a beefy $853,000 limited start at six Los Angeles and New York City theaters (for a massive $142K per screen).