MOVIE NEWS – Filming on the long-awaited John Wick spinoff is finally about to begin, and Ana de Armas has confirmed she will play the lead role.

At CinemaCon, the first footage from the highly anticipated John Wick: Chapter 4 sequel was shown, giving fans a glimpse of Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin doing what he does best once again. The footage shows Reeves taking on two thugs in an art gallery, defeating them both with a nunchaku in hand. Lionsgate plans to start shooting the John Wick spinoff film Ballerina next summer.

It also revealed plans for the long-awaited John Wick spinoff Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. The film follows a young woman raised to be an assassin who seeks revenge on the hitmen who killed her family. Armas was previously rumoured to star in the movie, but Lionsgate officially confirmed it at CinemaCon. The film will finally start shooting this summer, after first being reported in 2017.

Ballerina will be directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld) from a script by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Chad Stahelski, who led all four John Wick films, will produce Ballerina alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.

Shooting this summer, an all-new chapter from the @JohnWickMovie universe: Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas

— CinemaCon (@CinemaCon) April 28, 2022

This will be one of Ana de Armas’ most prominent roles to date, although she has several other exciting projects in the pipeline. She will play Marilyn Monroe in the NC-17 biopic Blonde, released on Netflix later this year. Before that, fans will first see Armas alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the Russo brothers’ action thriller The Gray Man, which will arrive on Netflix in July. Armas will also be reunited with Evans in Dexter Fletcher’s upcoming romantic action film Ghosted, coming to Apple TV+.

The John Wick series is also moving forward with plans to continue after the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4. Plans were to shoot John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 back-to-back, but that has changed due to the pandemic. Lionsgate still has plans to make a fifth film, but fans will have to wait a little longer for that to happen. It is unclear when Lionsgate plans to release the fifth film.

In the meantime, a spinoff TV series called The Continental is in the works. It will be a prequel series set in the 1970s and will follow a younger version of Ian McShane’s character Winston in the films. Colin Woodell has been cast as the young Winston Scott, while Mel Gibson has been cast in the lead role. The prequel series also stars Ayomide Adegun, Peter Greene, Jeremy Bobb, Katie McGrath, Hubert Point-Du Jour and Mishel Prada. Chad Stahelski will direct the series’s pilot episode, which was ordered to series by Starz in 2018.

Ballerina does not yet have an official release date but will begin principal photography in the summer of 2022. After many delays, fans will be able to catch John Wick: Chapter 4 when the sequel finally hits theatres on March 24, 2023.

Source: Collider