JOHN WICK Spinoff Film BALLERINA Pushed Back a Whole Year and Ian McShane Explains Why

The John Wick spinoff film Ballerina was supposed to be released this summer, but Lionsgate just pushed the release date back an entire year!

Ballerina was originally set to dance its way into theaters on June 7, 2024, but now it won’t be released until June 6, 2025. Apparently the reason for the push is for the creative team to “amp” up the action scenes in the movie.

Deadline shared, “The move comes as John Wick architect Chad Stahelski has inked a new deal with Lionsgate to oversee the franchise. He’s working with Ballerina director Len Wiseman on additional action sequences for the movie, to amp it up even more than it is.”

Ana de Armas stars in the film, and she is joined by Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane and Keanu Reeves. The story “focuses on a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.”

McShane recently explained why the movie was delayed, saying: “It's not reshoots, it's new shoots. They're shooting for Ballerina, which is the spinoff with Ana de Armas of the John Wick franchise. You know, it's like they've got to protect the franchise. And obviously, I did it, when was it? We did it about a year ago, we did the movie Ballerina and they've looked at it, and Chad's [Stahelski] come in, the guy who directed all the John Wick movies, and they want to make it better. Because they have to protect it. Because Keanu's in it as well, and it takes place between John Wick 3 and John Wick 4.”

McShane previously talked about the movie saying: "This one is set in between John Wick 3 and John Wick 4, because Keanu is in it, too. You didn't want to set it after John Wick 4, because then you'd have social media saying, 'Oh, so he's still alive! What's he going to do next time? Is there a John Wick 5?!' This way, you can still keep up the pretense that there might not be a John Wick 5."

He went on to say: "This time we're protecting Ana de Armas, and I had my great friend, Mr. Lance Reddick. God bless you, Lance -- he passed away last year. Lance and I bring our usual protection towards Ms. de Armas. And [director] Len [Wiseman] I found a delight to work for. Again, we worked out the script beforehand, so there was no wasted time."

I’ve been looking forward to this movie, we’ll just have to wait a little long before we can enjoy it!