Not to generalize, but if you were told about an upcoming revenge-driven action movie called Ballerina headlined by a protagonist that’s mastered martial arts, swordfighting, gunmanship, and motorcycle riding and promises geysers of blood and bone-crunching brutality, then Ana de Armas’ John Wick spin-off would probably be the first thing that came to mind.
After all, Chapter 4 recently saw the Keanu Reeves franchise fly past a cumulative box office total of a billion dollars, cementing itself as one of the greatest recurring sagas of the modern era that’s seen both critical acclaim and earnings increase with each new installment.
And yet, Netflix has made the bold call to unveil the first trailer for incoming Korean original Ballerina, which releases on Oct. 6 and follows an ex-bodyguard named Ok-joo as she seeks ruthless retribution against those who wronged her.
It’s entirely coincidental, but that doesn’t make it any less fascinating that Netflix is forging ahead with the debut of an in-house exclusive that boasts the exact same title and a near-identical premise to what will be the sixth entry in the John Wick universe by the time it lands in theaters in June of next year, with episodic prequel The Continental filling the gap in between.
If it lives up to the majority of Netflix’s recent Korean ass-kickers in terms of quality, then de Armas might have an unforeseen mountain to climb in order to ensure that her Ballerina ends up being the best of the bunch, because history is most definitely on the streaming service’s side in this instance.