In an industry dominated by superheroes movies ranging from Avengers: Endgame to Venom, The Batman, Aquaman and so many more, the good old-fashioned action movie has struggled to survive. While yeah, for the most part, comic-book movies are all very action-heavy, there’s a significant difference between heroes in capes and cowls and more straightforward action movies about human beings without the super-powered or supernatural.

Traditional action flicks have been struggling for a while now. They had a decent run in the 2000s, with the likes of the Bourne trilogy, Daniel Craig’s early outings as James Bond, and more. But as the film industry transitioned into the 2010s, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe began its domination, plain and simple action movies really hit a rough patch, both creatively and at the box office. While films like The Expendables and 2008’s Taken were able to find an audience, even those franchises quickly devolved into uninspired and by-the-numbers material with less-than-stellar box office returns.

The first half of the 2010s was spent trying to recreate the success of spy-thrillers like the Bourne franchise. The result was a myriad of lackluster films such as Jack Reacher and Olympus Has Fallen. By the time 2014 rolled around, the genre was in desperate need of a revival. Thankfully, John Wick was released that October, and it gave the action movie genre the shot in the arm that it needed.

A Shift in the Box Office

Keanu Reeves in John Wick Chapter Two
Lionsgate

John Wick, as a series, was able to do something no other action series at the time could: consistently grow its audience with each new chapter. The first Expendables film domestically grossed just over $100 million, but then dropped to $85 and $39 million with its progressive sequels. Taken was the same way. Its first film made $145 million domestic, but then its second and third films dropped to $139 and $89 million, respectively. Even the Mission: Impossible franchise, as awesome as it has become, has failed to consistently grow its box office numbers with each film.

While Taken and The Expendables both had downward trajectories at the box office, John Wick has been able to do the opposite. The first film in the series started out small, grossing only $43 million in the US, but positive word of mouth was able to drive those numbers up with its next two films. Chapter 2 jumped up to $92 million and Chapter 3 got all the way to $171, breaking into the top 15 highest-grossing films of 2019 in the US.

They might not be billion-dollar grossers, but the John Wick films have successfully carved out a decent space for themselves at the box office. The financial success of the films is also helped by their relatively low budgets. The first film only cost $20 million, with the second two jumping to $40 and $75 million. Those numbers are pretty impressive in a landscape where mid-budget films are all but extinct, as most franchise flicks cost between $100-$200 million and most everything else is working with minimal budgets.

Related: These Are the Movies Which Influenced the John Wick Franchise

Heavily Stylized Action

John Wick wields a sword in Chapter Three
Lionsgate

Solid performance at the box-office doesn’t just happen randomly, though (at least, not usually). John Wick has been able to achieve the kind of success that it has because it was able to bring something new to the action genre. Instead of the somewhat static and predictable action sequences that audiences had gotten used to, John Wick really spiced things up by injecting a ton of personality, vibrant creativity, and stylized violence into its fight scenes. On top of that, most of the action sequences are shot with wide angles, which makes it easier for the audience to actually see and understand what it happening.

Much of the series' personality comes from the directing duo behind the first John Wick, Chad Stehelski and David Leitch. The two filmmakers got their start as stuntmen, working on films ranging from The Matrix and Blade to 300 and the Bourne franchise. John Wick served as the directorial debut of both the former stuntmen, and having two people thoroughly familiar with stunt work directing the film paved the way for some of the best action sequences of the 21st century. Stahelski has stayed aboard the John Wick series in the years since, directing every new entry, while also beginning work on the upcoming Highlander, and Ghost of Tsushima films. Leitch, on the other hand, has continued to spread the colorful action of John Wick throughout the industry. He left the series after the first film, but has since directed films such as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and the newly-released Brad Pitt-actioner Bullet Train.

Related: John Wick: Why The Trilogy Belongs Among the Best Action Franchises

A Splash of Corniness

John Wick and his dog
Lionsgate

What has set the John Wick series apart from the action series that preceded it is that John Wick hasn't forgotten to have fun with its action and its story. As great as the Bourne trilogy was, those films and the myriad of copycats that followed took themselves a bit too seriously. They were gritty and adult, but they forgot to inject much of the excitement and fun that is needed to make for a thoroughly enjoyable action flick. Even classics like Die Hard knew that just the right amount of humor and cheesiness goes a long way. Stahelski and Leitch brought that same approach to John Wick, which has given the series the long life that it continues to have.

While the story of John Wick does have some of the super-serious action clichés that audiences expect, it also plays on those clichés in interesting and funny new ways. For example, the story of an expert ex-assassin coming out of retirement for revenge isn’t anything terribly original, but having his driving motivation be to avenge his dead puppy is truly incredible stuff. It simultaneously subverts and pokes fun at the clichés of the genre while also being a genuine and relatable reason for Wick’s outrage in the film.

In the years since the first John Wick film hit theaters, there has been a notable shift toward this kind of stylized and purposely corny action flick. Whether it be the through the films Leitch has directed, or other similar movies such as last year’s Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk, this trend and evolution of the action flick has kept the genre afloat in a time when The Avengers, Batman and other comic-book characters are obliterating everything else at the box office. By keeping their budgets low and bringing a new and original style not found in superhero films, the John Wick franchise, and the films it inspired, has managed to keep the classic, straightforward action film alive.