John Wick 4 might be a long way off, but Lionsgate is already gearing up to promote the next instalment in the action movie franchise, judging by recent artwork found at CinemaCon.
CinemaCon is an annual LA-based trade show organised by the National Association of Theatre Owners. The highly-anticipated event, which takes place this year between April 25 and April 28, is likely to include a range of advanced screenings, talks with blockbuster stars and directors, and Hollywood product presentations, which oftentimes include the announcement of a new film slate.
Something attendees of the event perhaps didn’t expect was promotional art for John Wick 4, given the thriller movie isn’t set to be released until March 23, 2023. But that’s exactly what they found. The film’s first promotional poster, which included the title card John Wick: Chapter 4 was set up for all of CinemaCon to see, according to Bleeding Cool reporters. The poster, which uses orange and green neon colouring, depicts Keanu Reeves ominously pointing John Wick’s iconic handgun to some kind of off-poster threat. Cherry blossoms can be seen either side of Reeves on the poster.
Notably, this poster doesn’t include the long-rumoured title for the latest instalment in the Reeves-fronted franchise. In November 2021, leaked images of wrap gifts given to cast and crew that worked on John Wick 4 seemed to suggest that the full title of the movie would be John Wick 4: Hagakure.
Hagakure is a Japanese word that can mean “in the shadow of leaves,” and is also the name of a classical Japanese text that is thought to teach the primary precepts of the samurai sword and the samurai ways of life. Although this title doesn’t appear on the poster, the inclusion of cherry blossoms — a plant widely associated with Japan — suggests we might not want to rule out Hagakure as the final title just yet.
First promotional art for ‘JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4’ has been spotted at CinemaCon.
(Source: https://t.co/b7nTRCToTq) pic.twitter.com/XJe5dOHV0q
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 25, 2022
The first three instalments of the John Wick franchise are available to watch on various streaming services, with all of them being available now on Amazon Prime Video.