It’s no surprise if you ask me, but it’s learned Ballerina has bombed at the box office and is coming in well under expectations.
The trades are writing articles wondering why the flick is a failure in an attempt to shill, but the answer is pretty obvious: fans don’t want a female John Wick.
Really, they don’t want anybody else but Keanu Reeves as John Wick (who watched The Continental?).
What is the Ballerina box office?
Estimates were initially offering at least a $31M opening weekend, but now that number has been revised down to $25M-$27M as fans aren’t showing up as the weekend progresses. Again, not a surprise at all. Update: It’s reported a $25M opening.
Fans not interested in female assassins movies
I don’t think there’s been one successful female assassin movie (update: Kill Bill movies and Wanted were successful, have there any been since?).
David Leitch, who co-directed the first John Wick, even though he doesn’t get any credit on IMDb, bailed and went and did the female assassin movie, Atomic Blonde. That only made $100 million worldwide, $51 million domestically, and opened to $18.2 million, which in today’s dollars is $23.82 million, not too far from Ballerina.
Or how about Marvel? It’s female assassin movie Black Widow also bombed. Thunderbolts starring the MCU’s new female assassin? Just bombed. DC? Harley Quinn bombed.
Fans sick of the BS
We can also add that fans are absolutely sick to death with the forced feminist messaging being shoved into their favorite franchises, not because it serves as an organic part of the story, but it’s only used to push an agenda.
The Marvels? Bombed. Madame Web? Bombed. Disney Star Wars? The MCU? Doctor Who? How’s it working out? And how much DEI money did Lionsgate get to do Ballerina? And who asked for it?
Know your audience: it’s dudes
99.9% of the audience going to see these movies are dudes. 90 lbs chicks beating up 250lb white dudes doesn’t add up unless, I’ll be honest, there is a lot of T&A. Is there any in Ballerina? Do we get to see Ana de Armas shake her money maker? Does anyone think Ana De Armas can beat up John Wick? I’m just being honest. I’m not going to apologize, either.
Did you even know The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus is in Ballerina (just play Ghost Rider, dude!)?
Update: Exactly as I said, the female audience didn’t show up.
Is the genre dead?
We can also question if the lone assassin type of movies have run their course?
Recently saw The Accountant 2 bomb and Jason Statham’s A Working Man bomb. Guess what? Well, they both made only $100 million. That said, they’re also both pretty bad movies compared to previous outings from them.
Note about the shill reactions
On a side note, I also want to touch upon the reviews. There was this “controversy” that Lionsgate’s PR company sent out a notice to the shill reviewers only to put out positive reactions on social media. I was left scratching my head why there was such backlash from those shill reviewers? When has there EVER been early reactions to ANYTHING from these shill reviewers that were negative? It’s hilarious.
Final note
So the final note is that the message from fans is loud and clear: We want Keanu Reeves as John Wick and nobody else.
Speaking of, the next flick in the genre looks to be Nobody 2, out August 15, 2025. The first movie only made $57.5M and is really good, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the sequel.
