Keanu Reeves CinemaCon appearance during John Wick presentation delights fans: ‘You’re the man!’

‘We placed a bet — that Chad’s vision coupled with Keanu’s singular screen presence would rewrite the action genre. And that bet paid off for everybody,’ a Lionsgate executive said at CinemaCon

Keanu Reeves’s appearance at CinemaCon left the convention’s attendees delighted on Thursday (28 April).

The actor showed up during Lionsgate’s presentation of John Wick: Chapter 4.

Lionsgate Chairman Joe Drake opened the showcase by crediting stuntman-director Chad Stahelski’s “vision” and Reeves’s “singular screen presence” as the reasons for the franchise becoming a “cultural phenomenon”.

“We placed a bet — that Chad’s vision coupled with Keanu’s singular screen presence would rewrite the action genre. And that bet paid off for everybody,” Drake said, per Deadline.

Drake then brought Stahelski and Reeves out, as attendees reportedly greeted the actor with loud cheers and chants of “you’re the man!”

The film’s first full-length trailer was premiered exclusively at the event, which is held at Las Vegas’s Caesar Palace Colosseum Theatre every year.

In the high-octane, neon-drenched fourth movie, Reeves’s hit man will return once again to rain down violence and vengeance on his enemies.

In addition to Reeves, the fourth John Wick movie’s cast includes Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins and Clancy Brown. Ian McShane will return as Winston, the manager of the Continental Hotel.

However, Halle Berry will not be reprising her role as Sofia, who first appeared in Chapter 3.

The film’s third edition, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – which was released in 2019 – took $327.3m (£261.2m) at the global box office, more than doubling the box office earnings of John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017.

Stahelski’s fourth John Wick movie is scheduled for theatrical release on 23 May 2023.