When John Wick hit theaters in 2014, hardly anyone was the least bit sure of what to expect. Keanu Reeves had been touting his new action movie for months, and it had been a long time since he starred in an action movie that did anything close to earning acclaim-47 Ronin does not count, readers after he hyped this movie as much as he did, we were all very surprised by what came next.
Not only was John Wick incredibly stylish, but it was also surprisingly deep considering it centered on a man hell-bent on revenge after the death of his dog. No wonder the 2014 film spawned three Reeves-led sequels, but had the project stuck to its original name, it might never have been an action-packed success story. Titles matter and in the case of John Wick, Keanu Reeves’s failure to remember the original name of the picture worked in favor of the movie.
In an interview with Comicbook.com in 2020, John Wick screenwriter Derek Kolstad revealed that the picture was originally titled Scorn but Reeves evidently got so attached to his character that he could not remember the five-letter title of the screenplay. “The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick,” Kolstad explained. “Marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of Scorn.’ I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.” We can’t either.
While Scorn is not a terrible title for revenge, John Wick gives the film a presence that can only be embodied by an actor like Keanu Reeves. There’s a mystery to it that only adds to the world, and given Wick’s own status within that world, it makes complete sense that he’d be at the very center.
Kolstad wrote John Wick and its instant sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, before screenwriters Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams arrived on the scene for John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. “Parabellum was [director Chad Stahelski’s idea] and I love it,” the screenwriter said.
By the time John Wick: Chapter 4 (which sadly didn’t warrant its own subtitle) came around, Kolstad was out of the loop, with pen duties following Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. “At a certain stage the studio will tell you your creation is graduated, and you wish it well,” the screenwriter told Collider about the development process. “I’m still close with Chad (Stahelski), still close with David (Leitch), and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”
The John Wick Franchise Grows Beyond Keanu Reeves
Given the popularity of the John Wick films, it is no surprise then that the series has grown into a franchise far beyond Kolstad or even Keanu Reeves. In 2023, Peacock issued their three-episode miniseries, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which really took the strange neo-noir world of hitmen established in the original out into even more expansively bizarre dimensions. Another John Wick television continuation — titled John Wick: Under the High Table — is in the works, though we know very little about that project at all.
There have also been several other reportedly developing projects within the John Wick franchise, but the next film, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, will hit theaters in 2025. Maybe if it had been called Scorn instead, it would never have received the extra marketing push that would have guaranteed it a surefire smash hit. Though the original 2014 shot stands as arguably the best of the lot, the sequels have kept up with the name and Reeves himself has stayed true to form.
Conclusion:
The name John Wick is now synonymous with action-packed, thronging movies, but its origins are quite simple: Keanu Reeves couldn’t get his first choice for the film’s title. Unbeknownst to him, it turned out to be a fortunate accident because the title of the movie has since become iconic in Hollywood. The story behind the title itself adds intrigue to the whole saga because a casual naming choice can blossom into something much bigger than what was ever expected.
FAQs:
1. Why is the movie called John Wick?
A. The film was named John Wick after Keanu Reeves couldn’t secure his preferred title.
2. What was Keanu Reeves’ first pick for the movie’s title?
A. The original title Keanu Reeves wanted has never been fully disclosed.