‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Arrests Austin, TX With SXSW Premiere; Keanu Reeves Says He’ll Be Back With Cameo In Spinoff ‘Ballerina’

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It’s been an uneven SXSW: While the film side fired off with the opening night of Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons and Dragons, there weren’t any big studio marquee pics on Saturday and Sunday; the scheduling conflict of Oscars providing a monkey wrench to the fest’s momentum which is typically a one-two-three punch throughout the weekend.

However, tonight, the surprise screening of Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 got the festival’s fanboy and fangirl electricity back on track with rolling laughs and rolling cheers which are the standards of a classic SXSW premiere, complete with star Keanu Reeves and filmmaker Chad Stahelski onstage at the Paramount.

The movie even got a short standing ovation during the credits. Stahelski referenced what a big deal this was: the first John Wick debuted in Austin, TX nine years ago (but at Fantastic Fest).

It was only proper to bring Chapter 4 back. Without spoiling too much, Reeves expressed why he decided to do a fourthquel to the crowd following the film which runs ten minutes shy of three hours: “For him to get his freedom in a way, that was the reason to tell the story.” Reeves revealed that he has a cameo in the John Wick spinoff The Ballerina when asked by a fan how the gun toting hitman will appear in the future iterations of the franchise.