Many of us saw this coming. Lionsgate‘s John Wick spinoff “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas, just had this “catastrophic” screening. I’m hearing the movie might be a “franchise killer.”
“Ballerina” is said to be a “borderline imitation” of the ‘John Wick’ movies, but messier and done via a “female assassin” perspective. The lore of the trilogy looms large here, and there’s “no running around the fact that it’s tonally inconsistent” and “poorly directed.”
If you remember, “Ballerina” had been delayed by a year from June 7, 2024 to June 6, 2025. ‘John Wick’ architect Chad Stahelski then agreed with Lionsgate to oversee production on the film. Supposedly, Stahelski then decided to shadow “Ballerina” director Len Wiseman on “additional action sequences” during reshoots on the film.
It was reported that David Castañeda and Sharon Duncan-Brewster had been added to the cast of “Ballerina.” Yes, they added new characters during these reshoots, that weren’t previously part of the original script.
Ian McShane, who stars in “Ballerina” was recently a guest on BBC’s The One Show and tackled these reshoots. The veteran actor implied that “Ballerina” was just not good enough and that they had to shoot entirely new sequences with another director (Stahelski). According to him, we shouldn’t call them reshoots, they are actually “newshoots.”
We’re going to Budapest. It’s not reshoots, it’s new shoots […] obviously, they’ve got to protect the franchise. We shot the movie a year ago. Chad [Stahelski] came in … and they want to make it better because you have to protect the franchise.
All of this news had me thinking about rumors, from last October, started by X account Empire City, that detailed the film as a “mess” and how they basically had to do additional photography, with most of the film being reshot entirely from scratch.
Production on “Ballerina” began in November 2022. The film was in post-production by February 2023. I wouldn’t be surprised if more reshoots are coming. Yesterday’s screening was such a disaster that I don’t think Lionsgate can afford to release what was screened.
In “Ballerina,” De Armas plays an assassin, and Anjelica Huston reprises her role as head of the Ruska Roma crime organization. Ian McShane is back as hotelier Winston. Keanu Reeves has a cameo. It’s also the late Lance Reddick’s final on-screen performance as Charon. The film has had almost no promotional material released so far.
I gather Wiseman will be keeping his directing credit in “Ballerina,” even with Stahelski, by all accounts, now “ghost directing” it. John Wick fans expect a certain type of choreographed action and maybe Wiseman just couldn’t deliver that.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.