Given the current situation with productions on hold everywhere, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise - but it's disappointing all the same.
Lionsgate have officially moved the release date of 'John Wick 4' from May 21st, 2021 to May 27th, 2022. Originally, the plan was for 'The Matrix 4' and 'John Wick 4' to have matching release dates, but the likelihood now is that both movies will be moving their release dates. 'John Wick 4' was simply the first movie to do so.
Speaking to Collider, 'John Wick' director Chad Stahelski revealed that 'The Matrix 4' had only a month in production before it was shutdown, whereas 'John Wick 4' was still in the very early stages. Seeing as how 'The Matrix 4' was further along the pipeline, that has to be finished first before he can jump back to 'John Wick 4'.
Stahelski also revealed in the same interview that both he and David Leitch are helping out with the stunt work in 'The Matrix 4', as both directors got their start way back in 1999 with the movie. "Lana’s come back with a lot of love to have a pseudo-family reunion, so that’s been a lot of fun. It’s been good to see a lot of the crew members again," Stahelski said.
As for their work, Leitch is taking on a particular sequence, while Stahelski is more invovled with choreography and physical training. "It’s more about the creative concept of some of the choreography and backing them up with stuff," Stahelski explained, adding that Lana Wachowski directs the action set pieces herself. "She weaves it into the main unit stuff, which is why their stuff looks so good," Stahelski added.
So far, 'The Matrix 4' is still in for a May 2021 release date and Warner Bros. have made no plans to change that. For now, it's only 'John Wick 4' moving back to 2022.
