Keanu Reeves has officially closed a deal to voice John Wick in Lionsgate's animated prequel, per Variety. The film tells the Impossible Task story. He kills all of his rivals in one night to free himself from the High Table and earn the right to be with Helen.
That story has existed since 2014. Fans wanted it since the first film. Lionsgate waited until the franchise passed $1 billion at the global box office, and then made it a cartoon.
Franchise math. I'm naming it. Five movies, done. $1 billion banked. The IP is still printing. The next move is not a new movie. It is a new medium. A live-action sequel is one more gunfight to budget. An animated prequel is a gunfight with no stunts, no sets, no locations, no Keanu in a suit for nine months. Same voice. Same dog. A fraction of the cost.
Chad Stahelski produces. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee produce. Keanu produces. That is the whole point: the people who made the live-action thing are now the people making the cartoon thing, and they call it "endless possibilities" in the press release.
The director is Shannon Tindle, of Ultraman: Rising. The quote selling the movie dates to 2025: there is no John Wick story fans are clamoring for more than the Impossible Task. The quote is already on record. The film is not in production yet. The press machine is on schedule.
And the origin story in one line: Keanu, in a recording booth, voices his own dog's death. For a voice fee.
YOUR TURN: does an anime prequel dilute the franchise, or is a cartoon Wick the only honest version of a man who has been method-killing in a raincoat since 2014?
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