Time may be running out for John Wick (Keanu Reeves) but the upcoming fourth installment of the gun-fu franchise certainly isn't short on time. Collider has learned that John Wick: Chapter 4 will clock in at 2 hours and 49 minutes with credits, making it the longest in the franchise. When we last spoke to the film's director Chad Stahelski, he promised that it would be the longest in the franchise—and it looks like he followed through on that promise.
This news comes in the midst of the aptly named "Wick Week" which Lionsgate revealed after the Super Bowl over the weekend. Instead of running a Game Day commercial, Wick Week will deliver a week of exclusives, teasers, posters, and more, which seems like a pretty fair trade-off. As revealed last summer, John Wick: Chapter 4 will see the titular John Wick take on his most lethal adversaries yet. With the price on his head ever-increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin. The last handful of images from the film have certainly leaned into the globe-trotting nature of the fourth film, with Wick fighting in frosty locations and at iconic Parisian sites.
In the lead-up to John Wick: Chapter 4, the film's marketing has really been leaning into clock imagery. From bullet-filled hourglasses to ominous ticking clocks, time is on our minds. In 2014, John Wick premiered at 101 minutes, with the sequels John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum clocking in at 122 and 131 minutes, respectively. With John Wick: Chapter 4 rounding out at 169 minutes, it looks like we can expect a lot of high-octane action and perhaps, even higher stakes.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is far from the first film to premiere with a hefty runtime. Last year saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever land at 161 minutes and The Batman sweep into theaters at 176 minutes, both of which featured fantastic—and memorable—action-packed set pieces. There’s no doubt that Stahelski plans to up the ante with John Wick’s action this time around. Especially when you consider how jaw-dropping it looks in the short snippets delivered in the trailer and teasers. This is one runtime that is worth every second.
Who Else Will Return for John Wick: Chapter 4?
John Wick: Chapter 4 will see the return of Ian McShane as Winston and Lance Reddick as Charon, alongside newcomers Bill Skarsgård who plays the antagonist The Marquis, Shamier Anderson as The Tracker, and Clancy Brown as The Harbinger. The fourth film will also see Caine (Donnie Yen) and Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) face off against one another. Reeves will also reunite with his former Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne who returns as Bowery King. Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Natalia Tena will also appear in the film, though their characters' names haven't been revealed yet.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will arrive in theaters on March 24. For more on the sequel, watch our extended interview with director Chad Stahelski below.