As John Wick: Chapter 4 continues soaring through their box office charts, the company behind the film, Lionsgate, is undergoing massive changes by handing out pink slips to dozens of employees in the Motion Picture Group.
The Hollywood Reporter’s sources confirmed a dozen employees in Lionsgate Motion Picture Group have been laid off, cutting approximately 3 percent of the division, which is a total of 400 employees.
The report states that the massive layoffs began shortly after John Wick: Chapter 4 premiered in theaters, nabbing $306 million as of writing, alongside Gerard Butler’s thriller Plane which released in January and grossed $52 million worldwide.
The latest news on the company’s layoffs were distributed over the past six months, as Lionsgate CFO Jimmy Barge stated:
“In terms of overall cost and corporate overhead, I would just note that we have quietly reduced our workforce by approximately 150 full-time employees or 10 percent of our workforce,” the CFO told investors in February.
“We’ve done this through restructurings and managing open positions.” Lionsgate had 1448 employees as of last May, according to its annual report.
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As it happens, Lionsgate is not the only company prepping for budget costs. Even Warner Bros. and Disney have been dealing with their own shake-ups since recently.
In the case of Disney, CEO Bob Iger confirmed a similar statement with Barge, which is in relation to cutting costs through pink slips to prioritize and make way for higher quality films and series to uplift their streaming service.
It is worth mentioning that Lionsgate is still seemingly on board in making sure John Wick: Chapter 5 happens, in spite of the company shake-up.
But given that Keanu Reeves’ fourth installment of the John Wick collection has been killing it at the global box office this weekend, there is no denying that Lionsgate would want to milk one of its most popular franchises to the fullest.
While John Wick 5 has yet to be confirmed, the franchise spinoff, The Continental, has already released their funky action-packed teaser. Check out the teaser below:
John Wick: Chapter 4 is still showing in cinemas worldwide!
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