Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

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

Maanya Sachdeva
Friday 29 April 2022 08:16 BST
Comments
Keanu Reeves reveals the story behind viral ‘sad Keanu’ meme

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

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.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in