How John Wick Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch Kept Action Movies Alive Without Superheroes

The John Wick series has established itself as one of the few major action series today that appeals to audiences without being tied to the DC or Marvel Studios brands. It’s clear that comic book and superhero movies are the dominant force in Hollywood right now, even if some recent entries in the genre have floundered at the box office. Most blockbusters and modern action films have some sort of superhero angle, which has led to the genre and market becoming completely saturated. That’s great if you’re a fan of the Avengers or the Justice League, but it doesn’t leave much room for competition.

The days of a straight, run-of-the-mill action movie are largely in the past. However, the John Wick series still managed to carve out some space, which directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch quickly built a playground into. The two directors have created, together and independently, some of the most unique and engaging traditional action films of the 21st century. Both have had immense success with their various projects and we hope they are just getting started. See how they managed to make such an impact:

Story with stunts

Although they only became widely known after the release of the first John Wick in 2014. Stahelski and Leitch have been working in the film industry for quite some time. Both began working as stunt doubles in various tentpole films of the 1990s and 2000s. Some of Stahelski’s notable early work can be seen in films such as The Crow and the entire Matrix trilogy, while Leitch worked on Fight Club , Eleven of the ocean , and the two Matrixsequels too. They were having a lot of success in the stunt industry and felt the best way to continue this streak was together. As such, the two founded their own stunt and film production company, 87eleven, in 1997. From there, they continued to provide some of the best stunts that could be found in the industry.

87eleven allowed Stahelski and Leitch to reach new heights. The number of projects they worked on exploded in the 2000s and early 2010s. They worked on movies like Constantine , Mr. and Mrs. Smith , 300 , I Am Legend , Jumper , Speed ​​Racer , X-Men Origins: Wolverine , Tron: Legacy , and many more. Eventually, all that work would come to completion, as Keanu Reeves, who they worked with on The Matrix sent the two the script for John Wick in 2013 and asked if they would be interested in working on the stunts.

Stahelski and Leitch’s understanding of the story and ambitious ideas for how to execute it eventually led to them landing the job as co-directors on the film. Leitch had previously done some second unit directing for films like 2011’s Conan The Barbarian and 2013 ‘s The Wolverine but John Wick would serve as the full directorial debut for both filmmakers. Although, notably, only Stahelski received a directing credit on the film, while Leitch was listed as a producer, as the Director’s Guild of America guidelines are quite strict when it comes to splitting directorial duties.

The Success of John Wick

Considering how hugely successful John Wick is today, it’s easy to forget that the series wasn’t always seen that way. The first John Wick opened in October 2014 to just $14 million at the North American box office. As the weeks passed, the film gradually grew to just over $76 million worldwide. While that’s pretty solid considering the movie had a budget of just $20-$30 million, it’s not the groundbreaking results one would expect from an exciting new franchise. What was indisputable, though, was the fact that people who saw the movie loved it. It quickly generated a lot of positive word of mouth, and many people ended up considering it one of the best action rides of 2014.

Even further, John Wick: Chapter Two was widely considered an improvement over the first film, as the heavily stylized action the series is now known for upped several notches for the sequel. The franchise has continued to grow with each entry since. The third film opened to $56 million in May 2019 and grossed a total of $327 million, while Chapter 4 recently opened with a franchise-best $73 million and is shaping up to be the series’ highest-grossing yet.

The Growing Careers of Leitch and Stahelski

The critical and box office success of John Wick not only relaunched Reeves’ career as an actor, it gave Stahelski and Leitch the fuel they needed to launch their own directing careers. While they co-directed the first film, the decision was made for Stahelski to take sole directing duties for all sequels, while Leitch returned to the producer position. From the director’s chair, Stahelski has continued to grow the John Wick series beyond what anyone thought it would or could be. The most recent entry, Chapter 4 might just be the best movie in the series yet, and there are several John Wick spin-offs already in the works.

A film, a spin-off titled Ballerina will star Ana de Armas, while a miniseries called The Continental will focus on Ian McShane’s character Winston in his youth. As for Stahelski, he’s attached to a number of upcoming projects beyond the John Wick universe. Most notably, he’s working on a film adaptation of the ghost of tsushima video game that recently got a huge boost thanks to the popularity of HBO’s The Last of Us series .

After John Wick Leitch’s first solo directing gig was in Atomic Blonde , another heavily stylized action star that starred Charlize Theron as an MI6 agent during the Cold War. From there, he embarked on two major franchises, as he directed the 2018 film Deadpool 2 and 2019 ‘s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw , which were both decent hits. However, Leitch’s more recent work has led him to focus again on original, non-franchised stories. Last year, he directed the high -octane movie Bullet Train , starring Brad Pitt and a phenomenal supporting cast. Then it has a film adaptation of the 80’s seriesFall Guy is set for 2024, which will star Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Stephanie Hsu, among others.

In both directorial careers, Stahelski and Leitch produced some of the most exciting and original action films of the century. Stahelski has kept the John Wick brand in good hands while turning it into a series that will forever be a staple in action movie history. Whatever he does next is sure to leave a big impression there. Meanwhile, Leitch also co-founded 87North Productions in 2019, which is dedicated to producing more stunt-focused action movies in that same vein.

In addition to Bullet Train 87North has also recently produced films such as Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk, and Violent Night David Harbour’s Die Hard meets Home Alone Christmas Caper. Stahelski and Leitch are leading the way when it comes to producing original, thrilling action movies, and they’ve reminded audiences that not every action star needs superpowers to be thrilling.