Twelve years after the John Wick collection started, the unique movie’s screenwriter and manufacturing firm have been hit with a $10 million lawsuit.
Keanu Reeves made his debut because the title character in 2014, beginning out as a stand-alone story a few former murderer searching for revenge after his pet is murdered, paving the best way for the largest motion film franchise of all time. Derek Kolstad wrote John Wick and its subsequent two sequels. The collection is at Lionsgate Studios, and Thunder Street Footage produces these movies. All three events are presently being accused of copyright infringement associated to John Wick.
As The Hollywood Reporter reported, The Sick and On My Approach screenwriter J.R. Wicker filed a lawsuit in California federal court docket on Monday, alleging that John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 have components which are “strikingly considerably comparable” to the script he wrote for Blood for Escobar. Wicker’s story additionally follows a middle-aged former murderer who reluctantly returns to the underworld to confront a secret society of fellow hitmen and kill anybody who will get in his manner.
Mr. Wicker’s attorneys, R. Terry Parker and Stephen Rowe, wrote that Mr. Kolstad “intentionally, blatantly, and unauthorizedly copied” “Blood for Escobar” for the spec script “Scorn,” which turned John Wick. This contains that the previous venture may also start with protagonist Alex witnessing his pet being killed in a house invasion, Alex proudly owning a Ford Mustang, and John Wick being exiled by a secret society, just like what occurred on the finish of the second movie. The criticism additionally states:
In each movies, the antagonist flees and finally ends up getting shot later in one other location, the place there aren’t any guards, in a public place, at night time, and whereas ingesting.
Wicker’s lawsuit additionally alleges how Kolstad reviewed Blood for Escobar and should have obtained a replica of the script. Wicker is searching for $10 million in damages from Kolstad, Lionsgate and Thunder Street. However Wicker says he solely noticed John Wick for the primary time in 2025, so his lawsuit faces a number of hurdles, together with the statute of limitations.
The lawsuit comes because the John Wick franchise continues to increase past Reeves’ character. The 2023 Peacock miniseries The Continental explored the origins of John’s ally Winson Scott within the Nineteen Seventies. A spin-off movie, Ballerina, adopted in 2025, taking the highlight between the third and fourth John Wick films and spotlighting Eve Macaro, performed by Ana de Armas, on her mission for revenge. Reeves appeared as a help.
The following movie on this collection is Caine, a spin-off of one other movie. Donnie Yen reprises his position because the blind murderer from John Wick: Chapter 4, and he additionally directs the movie, which started filming on the finish of April. Different initiatives in growth embrace an animated prequel movie by which John goes on an “inconceivable mission.” The TV present “Below the Excessive Desk” focuses on supporting characters within the movie after the occasions of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” A single-player John Wick online game for PlayStation 5.
As for the primary John Wick film collection, the fourth installment seems to have ended with John’s dying, however Lionsgate can be creating John Wick: Chapter 5 with Reeves and director Chad Stahelski. It is unclear whether or not Wicker’s lawsuit will have an effect on these initiatives.
