The John Wick franchise should be the the blueprint on how to build modern day movie franchises

It is no secret that film studious have been struggling to create and grow new film franchises. Outside of horror films, there have been virtually zero original IPs turned into successful franchises in recent years. While much of that is due to a changing market, slowing ticket sales, etc. I believe that studios could be doing a much better job at creating films that the public would even want sequels for. Which is where John Wick comes in.

The first John Wick film is THE perfect film for creating a franchise, and here is why:

Casting: Making the star of your film a proven and recognizable actor like Keanu Reeves and not someone up and coming brings up the bottom line of your film. A movie like Challengers would’ve made a third as much if it wasn’t for Zendaya.

Budget: At 20-30 mil, it didn’t need to make much to turn a modest profit. You can’t expect original movies to make 100 mil in this market, so keeping a lower to mid budget for a first film is a must. A movie like The Fall Guy couldn’t make a profit due to such a high budget, despite it making decent money.

Story: Here is where John Wick truly sets itself apart from other aspiring franchises. They created a self contained and satisfying story while still naturally leaving the door open for a sequel. Some movies, like Horizon: An American Saga, were clearly building up for a multi-movie payoff. And other movies, like The Fall Guy had completely self-contained stories that wouldn’t allow for a sequel naturally. John Wick is the sweet spot between those films, and it does it by creating a world with depth that SHOULD be explored, and a story that COULD continue. And its story is simple and universal, so it has interest from multiple markets and not just America, like Twister.

The Studio Response: Giving the sequel a modest increase in budget (40 mil), is brilliant because it gauges interest from fans on whether they want the films to continue, while also giving the filmmakers more money to create a bigger and better film. Additionally, it only took 2.5 years for the sequel to come out, which is important because attention spans are smaller then ever, so taking 9 years for a sequel to come out like for Furiosa, is not going to work outside of rare cases, like Inside Out. And the studios were smart to healthily increase the budget of each film, and not just throw 200 million to it. They built the hype slowly and naturally until it exploded with John Wick 3. They were patient, and they were rewarded with four successful films that made 86m, 174m, 328m, and 440m, with future spinoffs on the way.

In conclusion: Reasonable budgets, a bankable star, a universal and satisfying story that still leaves the door open for sequels, striking while the iron is hot and building hype with modest increases in budgets for future movies is the blueprint that future franchises should follow.