John Wick: Chapter 4 Can Teach Hollywood A Lesson About Building A Cinematic Universe

The evolution of the "John Wick" franchise from underdog to action movie king has been quite the journey to witness. When the first movie debuted in 2014, critics expected the B-movie premise to accelerate Keanu Reeves' journey toward irrelevancy. But it did the exact opposite, restoring "The Matrix" star's standing as a bonafide action movie badass and helping revive his career after a string of flops.

Make no mistake, the first "John Wick" movie is the best of the lot, but there's something the other three films inarguably do better than that inaugural outing: world-building. In fact, that was the main focus for franchise director Chad Stahelski, who once he was given the green light for a sequel, set about expanding the lore surrounding the underground criminal society which he, fellow "John Wick" director David Leitch, and screenwriter Derek Kolstad has set up in the first movie.

That's not an easy thing to do. Case in point: DC. For more than a decade, DC and Warner Bros. have struggled, painfully, to try to match the gargantuan success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to no avail. In fact, the company has arguably fared better when it's steered away from a shared on-screen universe and given directors free rein to create their own visions unhindered. (See "Joker" and "The Batman.")

And it's not just DC. The blunder that was Universal's planned "Dark Universe," which was shuttered after the Tom Cruise-led "The Mummy" proved dead on arrival, sent out a shockwave of cringe that's still reverberating in Hollywood today. The "John Wick" franchise, however, has seen its box office take increase steadily with each new lore-expanding sequel. But why and — more importantly — how? These are questions many studio execs should be asking.

Universal's Dark Universe deserved better than fizzling out before it started. After all, it wasn't like building a shared universe around some of the studio's most recognizable IP was ill-conceived. But when the company brought in Alex Kurtzman, who'd helped write such notable blockbusters as "Mission: Impossible III" and "Transformers," to helm "The Mummy" and help orchestrate the creation of the Dark Universe, things quickly fell apart.

According to Kurtzman, making "The Mummy" was just as painful as watching it, with the writer-director hinting at studio meddling that resulted in him remarking that, "'The Mummy' wasn't what I wanted it to be." What was "The Mummy?" A box office flop that killed the burgeoning Dark Universe. Plans for the star-studded shared world of Universal monsters were immediately shelved and that was the end of that.

Meanwhile, DC and Warner had churned out a string of films based around DC's biggest heroes and had seen decent box office returns for many, with 2016's "Batman v Superman" bringing in $872 million globally. And in a surprise to many, "Aquaman" ended up breaking the billion mark, bringing in $1.1 billion at the global box office. But this still wasn't enough to create reliable box office performances from the entire DC roster and certainly wasn't enough to make up for the fact that a lot of these movies just weren't all that good.

Many of the films felt rushed as if DC wasn't more interested in quickly throwing together some slapdash attempt at a shared universe to try and mimic Marvel's success than actually developing its characters. And, as we witness the last days of the DC Extended Universe play out, it all seems to have been for nothing.

While Universal and DC were busy doing all the wrong things, Derek Kolstad, Chad Stahelski, and Keanu Reeves were busy building a cinematic universe the right way. After 2014's "John Wick" exceeded expectations, bringing in $76 million at the box office on a $30 million budget, Lionsgate was eager for another. And as Stahelski put it in a 2019 interview, he and Reeves found themselves in an unexpected position: "We both looked at each other like 'Er, there's not supposed to be a sequel.'"

But the pair quickly envisaged a follow-up story for their unstoppable assassin character, and soon found they were full of ideas on how best to bring John Wick back for another foray into finely choreographed violence. "It started tumbling out. We had this list of ideas. No script, but ideas," the director said. That was enough for them to commit to a sequel, and "John Wick: Chapter 2" eventually arrived in 2017, making $171 million globally.

This time, there was less focus on establishing John Wick's credentials as "Baba Yaga," a feared hitman and gun-fu specialist, and more focus on building out the criminal underworld introduced in "John Wick." By the second installment, Stahelski and co. had hooked their audience. After all, there's no better way to get viewers to sympathize with your protagonist than to have his dog killed. They'd also built his legend as a pre-eminent killing machine capable of murdering three men with a pencil.

Now, they were free to expand his world, introducing all new elements such as the markers, the famous bullet-proof suit, new global continental hotels, and generally expanding the lore of the "John Wick" universe. But this all stemmed from the fact they had taken the time to establish their character with the first movie.

The MCU launched off the back of Iron Man and Thor — at the time, two of Marvel's lesser-known heroes. But that was Kevin Feige's secret weapon. Not only did it force him to introduce characters properly, but there was also no major pressure for Iron Man and Thor to do well. If those movies failed, it obviously wouldn't have been great for Marvel, but it also wouldn't have been disastrous. From these lesser-known characters came a thriving, hugely successful cinematic universe — even if, these days, we've had more than our fill of the MCU. And if you look at the way the "John Wick" series developed, there are obvious similarities.

When the first movie debuted, no one had heard of John Wick, Keanu Reeves was at a low point in his career, and the B-movie revenge plot seemed like it was bound for a mediocre reception at best. Sure, there was pressure to overcome dismal expectations, but with a $30 million budget, it wasn't as if the failure of "John Wick" was going to be a shocking event with far-reaching consequences, in the way, say, "The Mummy" was. If it failed, so what?

The Dark Universe, however, was completely undermined by the failure of its first film, so there was clearly no resilience built into these strategies that relied more on pre-existing recognition of the IP rather than proper introductions and steady character development. That's the complete opposite approach to that of Marvel or "John Wick."

DC made the same mistake by starting their attempt at a cinematic universe with "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman," taking for granted the audiences' pre-existing appreciation for these characters. Hell, Ben Affleck just shows up as Batman in "Batman v Superman" as if he's been there all along.

Now that "John Wick: Chapter 4" has smashed franchise box office records, it's clear that this series has done world-building right. It made audiences care about its central character before setting off on a world-building mission with the second movie. By the time the fourth installment arrived, everyone was hooked.

But the true stress test of Chad Stahelksi's shared universe will come with the launch of several "John Wick" spin-offs, including the TV prequel series "The Continental" and the Ana de Armas-led movie "Ballerina." Up until now, the world of John Wick has solely expanded via films centered on the central character. Once these spin-offs launch, we'll see just how well that universe holds up as the basis for multiple projects.

Until then, there's no denying the continued and exponential success of the "John Wick" franchise. Each film has introduced yet more in the way of lore, characters, backstory, and escalating stakes, and each film has seen its box office returns grow. But without that first film, which calmly and clearly established the main character, none of this would have been possible.

So, Universal, we'd all love to see a Dark Universe done right, so take heed. And as new DC Studio co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran gear up to launch their vision of a (new) DC Universe, they'd also do well to consult the saga of Baba Yaga for inspiration.