John Wick 5 confirmed to be shooting back-to-back with John Wick 4

Is Keanu Reeves going for some kind of big-screen carnage record? Because John Wick Chapter 5 has just been confirmed, and it'll shoot back-to-back with John Wick: Chapter 4.

Having slaughtered his way through most of the High Table's assassins in last year's Chapter 3, Parabellum, the suavely attired Wick took refuge with gangster the Bowery King (played by Reeves' Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne). The raging killer swore to take vengeance on those who wronged him – given this has already entailed brutal slayings with pencils and books, we can only imagine what's coming next.

As before, Lionsgate will distribute the movie. Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer said, "We’re also busy preparing scripts for the next two installments of our John Wick action franchise, with John Wick 4 slated to hit theatres Memorial Day weekend 2022. We hope to shoot both John Wick 4 & 5 back to back when Keanu becomes available early next year."

It's not yet clear if stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski will return for the fifth instalment. We do know that he's helming the fourth, having overseen the first three movies in the franchise. (The first film was co-directed by David Leitch, later of Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw fame.)

The fourth movie in the bruising series is currently in production, but has seen disruption to its release date owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It'll be released in the UK on 27th May 2022, having initially been scheduled for a 2021 release. In the meantime, Reeves will next be seen in Bill & Ted Face the Music (trailer below), and he's currently working on the fourth episode in the Matrix saga.