Ballerina is the first movie spinoff of the John Wick franchise, and it proves the risks of John Wick‘s expansion plans. After the success of the first four John Wick movies, Lionsgate developed plans to capitalize on the franchise’s success by releasing a litany of spinoff projects. The Continental is a TV series about the history of the тιтular H๏τel, while Ballerina is a spinoff that takes place between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. While it is fun to see the world of John Wick fleshed out, Ballerina does highlight a problem that the franchise has to fix.

Ballerina tells the story of Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro, a ballerina and ᴀssᴀssin for the Ruska Roma. Throughout the film, Eve attempts to get revenge on the ᴀssᴀssins who killed her father while also trying to sever her ties with the Ruska Roma family. While Eve is mostly disconnected from the main John Wick story, she does encounter the Keanu Reeves character several times throughout the story. However, since John Wick died at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, which takes place after the events of Ballerina, the franchise has to pivot away from him.

Ballerina Hurt The John Wick Canon With Keanu Reeves’ Return

It Doesn’t Line Up With The Other Films

Throughout the marketing of Ballerina, Keanu Reeves’ involvement with the film was heavily emphasized. This marketing decision was mostly likely made to drive the fact that this is a John Wick spinoff into the heads of audiences. While it is always fun to see John Wick in action, Keanu Reeves’ involvement in the spinoff film does create some issues. Mainly, it hurts the canon of John Wick. Since Ballerina takes place between the third and fourth John Wick films, this retcon appearance doesn’t quite line up with the story of John Wick: Chapter 4.

At the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Winston shoots Wick, with him falling off the top of the Continental New York. However, he manages to survive, with him going to the Bowery King. He recovers there, with him continuing his quest when John Wick: Chapter 4 picks up six months later. Thus, we know that Wick has been in the sewers with the Bowery King for six months before heading to Morocco to wipe out the High Table.

Since this is the case, it makes John Wick’s appearance in Ballerina incredibly confusing. Since Ballerina takes place two months after the third John Wick, Wick should still be recovering and training with the Bowery King. Even if his injuries have disappeared, he certainly shouldn’t be working with the Ruska Roma. Getting readmission into the family is a major plot point in the fourth film, so it doesn’t make sense for the Ruska Roma to hire him to kill Eve in Ballerina. So, it is clear that Ballerina‘s John Wick appearance breaks the franchise’s canon.

John Wick Needs Fewer Characters Like John Wick, Not More Of Them

They Need To Stand Out More

Outside of the canon issues, Ballerina also creates a problem with the franchise’s roster of characters. When the first John Wick was released, the тιтular ᴀssᴀssin was incredibly unique. Everyone else was a fairly normal gangster, making Wick’s Baba Yaga тιтle something special. As the movies have gone on, however, wackier characters have continuously been added to the John Wick cast. Caine, Mr. Nobody, Sofia Al-Azwar, and more have proven to be just as talented of ᴀssᴀssins as Wick, and Ana de Armas’ Eve is just the later addition to this roster.

However, constantly adding new John Wick replacements isn’t the way to go. Firstly, it cheapens the character of John Wick. If everyone is just as dangerous as him, he doesn’t seem nearly as unique as the characters who surround him. It also hurts the other John Wick characters. Constantly being compared to John Wick won’t do anyone any favors, and Eve has definitely drawn comparisons to John Wick. Instead, the franchise needs to introduce wildly different characters rather than another grief-stricken ᴀssᴀssin of few words on a revenge quest.

Ballerina Didn’t Continue John Wick’s Momentum At The Box Office

It Underperformed Compared To The Mainline Films

While Ballerina was received well by critics, the same can’t be said about the film’s box office. Ballerina only opened at $25 million against a budget of around $90 million, which is disappointing when compared to previous John Wick movies. For example, John Wick: Chapter 4 opened to $73.8 million against a budget of $100 million, with it ending its box office run at $447.3 million. Ballerina is tracking to not get anywhere close to these numbers, with it being a disappointment for Lionsgate as of the writing of this article.

Considering that Ballerina is the first theatrical John Wick spinoff movie, this doesn’t bode well for the future. With John Wick ᴅᴇᴀᴅ after John Wick: Chapter 4, upcoming projects like the Caine film need to perform well so that the franchise can keep rolling. While John Wick: Chapter 5 is in development, there are still a lot of questions surrounding what it will be about. If John Wick movies don’t do well unless Keanu Reeves is in them, then the franchise can only last for as long as he wants to be involved.

Audience Interest In Ballerina Suggests People Want John Wick, Not Spinoffs

Putting Future Spinoffs In Jeopardy

Based on these facts, it is clear that audiences want more of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. Being set in the John Wick universe isn’t enough to guarantee a box office hit, as Ballerina shows. Even featuring John Wick isn’t enough, as the character is prominently shown off throughout the spinoff. Instead, it seems that audiences are looking for more mainline John Wick movies that star Keanu Reeves.

However, if John Wick: Chapter 5 underperforms at the box office, it could highlight another interesting possibility. It could be that audiences are satisfied with the ending of John Wick: Chapter 4, with them not moving beyond Wick’s death. Even if the franchise figures out a way to bring John Wick back to life, that doesn’t guarantee that viewers will come back. So, it could create a problem where Lionsgate won’t let go of John Wick, but viewers don’t find that to be interesting enough to continue the franchise with spinoffs like Ballerina.