The clock is ticking down on the highly anticipated return of John Wick. When Keanu Reeves graces our screens again as the titular assassin, it'll also be his longest outing yet according to director Chad Stahelski. He recently sat down with Collider's editor-in-chief Steve Weintraub to detail the upcoming John Wick 4, during which they ended up discussing the runtime of the film in comparison to the rest of the franchise.
Over the course of the series, the John Wick films, like many films in general, have slowly been getting longer, starting at a crisp 1 hour and 41 minutes for the first film and ending at 2 hours and 11 minutes for Chapter 3. Given that this film will eclipse that mark, Weintraub and Stahelski got into a larger discussion on runtime and the importance of appealing to the average moviegoer. When asked about what goes into deciding the perfect length for a movie, the director admitted that, while he is perfectly fine with longer films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films in their extended cuts, he understands the frustration with longer films. However, he believes John Wick 4 makes the most of its runtime through world-building and action, adding:
Look, I've watched this thing now, this version of the cut, close to 100 times, and another 100 by the end of the month at least. And this is the first one that we watch. I don't get bored at all. It's my own film. I know it's weird to say, but I watch it, and I was like, “Oh, I'm still in the movie.” It doesn't take me out. I don't ever feel like, "Fuck, just end this thing already. I can't watch it again." You know what I mean? Other than my other misgivings of choices, and scenes, and writing all that stuff, I feel pretty good about it. Keanu [Reeves] and I, and the really tight circle that I have around us, we've watched, every week. We have a little group. “Let's just watch it one more time to make sure we're not talking ourselves into something.”
Stahelski added that he's trusting his gut with the film, relying on his own instinct as a filmmaker to make the extra length worthwhile. So far, his gut hasn't steered him wrong to this point. Through now four entries, John Wick remains a cultural icon, branching off into its own spinoff film Ballerina starring Ana de Armas, and prequel series The Continental. He'll also have a fantastic cast to work with once again with Reeves joined by Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Rina Sawayama, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown In that sense, he's definitely earned the trust of fans with the series.
To anyone that's criticized the runtime of the latest film, though, he explains that there's good reason for the film to be longer. In terms of where that extra time is going, he adds:
If I go with anybody else's opinion other than mine, which I haven't done in any other decision in the movie, where's that going to go? I mean, we wrote a longer movie. We wrote a bigger movie. We wrote a longer script. We wrote at least a third more scenes than the last one. We expect it to be more. We've always expected it to be more. And I think the test, or at least what we're judging ourselves by, is that worth it with how we executed what we want it to be more or not? And I think the answer's yes.
Just How Long is John Wick 4?
Finally, Weintraub asked him the big question of just how long the film will be. For anyone fearful of a three-plus hour epic, that won't be the case as Stahelski explains. When asked if it would be in the 2-and-a-half-hour range, he responded:
It's in that zone. I think, I'm different. The definition of runtime is that first logo to that last credit. You know what I mean? So the movie itself, I know what it runs at. I don't know the full runtime because I don't know the credit scroll, and all the other stuff that's going in. So you'd have to add on that. But it's in the zone of, yeah, it's over the 2-hour mark, but it's under a lot of the other big marks.
John Wick 4 is due out in theaters on March 24, 2023. Check out the trailer below and keep an eye out for our full interview with Stahelski.