Lionsgate has pushed back the John Wick spinoff movie, Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas, by an entire year and replaced the June 7 release date with The Crow reboot starring Bill Skarsgård.
Ballerina was originally slated for that June 7, 2024 release date this year and will now be released on June 6, 2025.
Deadline is stating the delay is for Chad Stahelski and the film’s director, Len Wiseman, “to add additional action sequences for the movie, to amp it up even more than it is.”
Stahelski recently signed a deal with Lionsgate that sees him assume creative oversight of the John Wick franchise across all multimedia platforms, which includes the recently announced John Wick Experience coming to Las Vegas, so we see he is apparently actively involved with fixing Ballerina and making sure it’s done right.
Deadline also adds that “advance tracking is already hot” and that “Lionsgate just wants to make the feature… even better.”
Ana de Armas with co-star Norman Reedus on set of “Ballerina” the John Wick spin-off in Prague, Czech Republic. pic.twitter.com/ghTJPejLk2
— Ana de Armas Daily (@anadearmasdaily) March 26, 2023
How to fix Ballerina?
I tweeted my two cents and offered I hope they ditch those stupid ass bulletproof suits.
I also said they need to tailor the martial arts for a smaller female. Ana de Armas probably weights 105 lbs. soaking wet, so she isn’t going to be able to go toe to toe with men twice her size.
My suggestion is to tailor the martial arts to use something like a combination of Judo and a combat-style Jujitsu, with more emphasis on Judo (where strength is not used) and with quick jujitsu techniques that target the wrists and joints, and such. If I were Stahelski, I’d go to Japan and check out women’s Judo, and I’d also contact this guy.
I’d also use Ana de Armas’ sex appeal as a weapon, as again, she’s not as big as a man, and let’s be honest, her sex appeal would enable her to get closer to any target than physically trying to do so.
Of course, the weapons training has to be top notch, which it likely will, but IMO they need to ditch the goofy “super assassin” approach, especially from John Wick 4 (my fav of the franchise is the first John Wick).
It will be interesting to see what they do with Ballerina as Lionsgate obviously has plans to expand the franchise. You don’t want something like Ballerina to hurt the IP, hence the big delay, I am guessing (that said, fans loved John Wick 4 so…).
Ballerina also stars Norman Reedus, and IMDb lists Keanu Reeves, the late Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Gabriel Byrne as part of the cast.
Release Date: June 6, 2025
What about The Crow?
Regarding The Crow reboot, Rupert Sanders is directing who is known for Snow White and the Huntsman. Deadline says, “Bill Skarsgård takes on the iconic role of The Crow in this modern reimagining of the original graphic novel by James O’Barr.”
The description adds, “Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.”
The Crow also stars Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger.
The first version of the movie was relaesed in 1994 starring Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, and is a big-time cult fan-favorite flick. Eyes will definitely be on the reboot and Bill Skarsgård who starred in John Wick 4 and is known for playing Pennywise in the IT movies.
Release Date: June 7, 2024
(via Deadline)
