‘Ballerina’: This ‘John Wick’ Spin-Off Misses a Few of Its Marks

Leading lady Ana de Armas mostly shines in this sometimes overstuffed action thriller.

Eve (Ana de Armas) plays an action hero in the first "John Wick" spin-off, "Ballerina." Lionsgate

R | 2h 5m | Action, Adventure, Thriller, Drama | 2025

For many people, the question isn’t “why release a spin-off of ‘John Wick’ now,” but rather, “why didn’t one come out sooner?” With the global box office of the first four installments exceeding $1 billion (against a relatively small budget of around $240 million), one would have thought “Ballerina” would have been green-lit a decade ago.