Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Ballerina, john wick

Ballerina: Commitment BTS Featurette And The Restaurant Fight TV Spot

Lionsgate shared a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Ballerina, spotlighting star Ana de Armas's commitment to every aspect of this role.

It's the week before release, and we'll find out if anyone is actually interested in a John Wick spin-off film. The early reactions to Ballerina are trending pretty positive, so things look good, but good buzz does not always translate to ticket sales. It seems like everyone involved is really passionate about the film, which helps. We have another behind-the-scenes featurette that covers the commitment that star Ana de Armas had to tackle this role. She put herself through it to make those fight scenes look authentic, and it appears to be translating on camera. We can see that in the new extended TV spot they released as well, which mostly focuses on the restaurant fight scene, and boy, does Eve have a rough time in that scene if the footage is anything to go by.

Ballerina Is The First Big-Screen Spin-Off Of John Wick

It's still a little amazing that John Wick, where the only real notable thing about it leading up to its 2o14 release was that they managed to snag Reeves as its leading man, has turned into the franchise juggernaut it is today. That is what happens when you have good people working on a film from the beginning, because it would have been easy for John Wick to fade into obscurity with a ton of other disposable action movies. However, the creative team of director Chad Stahelski and screenwriter Derek Kolstad took the time to build a fascinating world around that action movie. The world of John Wick is the thing that everyone fell in love with, on top of the fact that Reeves is the best at this.

So it wasn't surprising that a sequel was greenlit, and it was even less surprising that in 2017, it was announced that a spin-off film and television show were in the works. The Continental focused on the hotel that plays a central part in the assassin world that John Wick moves in, and Ballerina would be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct, with Wiseman & Shay Hatten, and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay. Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes Ana de Armas and returning John Wick players Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick. We also have some new faces, including Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne.

A brief summary has been released: "Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma." The John Wick universe officially expands on June 6, 2025, with the release of Ballerina. Another television show was greenlit back in August 2024, and the casting for the Caine spin-off film has started to drop. We got the confirmation of Chapter 5 and the animated prequel very recently, but it's unclear how far along either project is.

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