Update 17/10/2024: Lionsgate has provided additional context to The Wrap's report. Director Len Wiseman led additional photography in Budapest with producer Chad Stahelski there to help enhance the action design. These sequences were completed in less than one month. Stahelski worked in tandem with Wiseman on these sequences. Wiseman suffered a serious health issue and was briefly hospitalized, meaning that Stahelski covered his sequences during that time. Wiseman has fully recovered is back finishing the film. The original story follows.
Ballerina, the upcoming John Wick spin-off film, has had some struggles getting to the screen, according to a new report. The film was originally set for release earlier this year but was delayed until June 2025, which Lionsgate previously said was to ratchet up the action sequences for Wick fans.
However, according to a new report from The Wrap, John Wick director Chad Stahelski was brought in to do more than just oversee tweaks to the action. According to the publication sources, Stahelski "had to reshoot most of the movie". They also allege that "a significant portion of Ballerina was reshot in Prague, with Wiseman not present on set".
The reshoots on the movie reportedly led to a delay on Stahelski’s upcoming reboot of Highlander too. The fantasy film is due to reimagine the popular ‘80s franchise and will star Henry Cavill as its lead. The delays led Cavill to take on Voltron, from Amazon MGM studios, as work is still being done on the Highlander script.
"Of course Chad had to clean up someone else’s mess. Remember, this film is basically 'John Wick 3.5,'" an insider told The Wrap. "This story happens before John Wick 4 and after that film, they can’t have a failure in anything Wick related." They added: "Chad is going to do Highlander, but cleaning up Ballerina pushed him by five months for sure."
GamesRadar+ has reached out to Lionsgate for comment. Ballerina has since released its first action-packed trailer, which even gives us a glimpse at Keanu Reeves back as the assassin.
For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to 2024 movie release dates.
