John Wick 4 had a runtime of nearly 4 hours until editor decided what to cut

The upcoming fourth edition to the beloved John Wick franchise had a total runtime of nearly four whole hours before the director made his cuts.

John Wick: Chapter 4 seems to be all anyone can talk about right now, with many fans raring to flock to the cinema to see the action neo-noir flick on the big screen.

However, the movie's creators have since revealed the trials and tribulations they faced editing down the movie's colossal runtime. Check out the official trailer below:

Starring the likes of Keanu Reeves alongside other Hollywood A-listers including Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård and the late Lance Reddick - it's certain that cinephiles were most definitely ready for their next John Wick fix.

The synopsis for the upcoming movie follows legendary hit man John Wick (Reeves) who takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld.

With the price on his head ever increasing, the action man's escapades bring him all around the world hitting from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.

Talk about a smooth operator.

Lionsgate

However, getting the movie down to an appropriate length was the furthest thing from smooth.

Speaking to IndieWire, director Chad Stahelski and editor Nathan Orloff explained why their action-packed movie demanded such a long running time.

While the movie currently stands at a still pretty hefty two hours and 50 minutes, it was once even longer, if you can believe it.

The film's first cut stood at a whopping three hours and 45 minutes - nearly an entire hour longer than the final product.

Filled to the brim - quite literally - with a plethora of nonstop violence, frantic fights and high-powered chase scenes - the creators have since admitted the stress in editing back the action extravaganza.

The director, Stahelski, even went as far as to say they were well and truly 'screwed'.

He said: "To be really honest with you, zero was planned out.

"Our first cut was three hours and 45 minutes, and it felt like three hours and 45 minutes. We were like, ‘Oh, we’re so screwed.'”

Talking about reducing the original mammoth cut down to its current runtime of 169 minutes, editor Orloff explained: "You just compress, compress, compress.

Lionsgate

"I went through a pass where anytime someone repeated an idea they had already expressed, I cut it out. No repeated ideas. It’s a very linear story, so there wasn’t a ton of reconstruction or rearrangement we could do.

"It was just a matter of sifting out what we didn’t need," he added.

The director admitted that even if the film lost less than a minute of footage, he would make the post-production team re-watch the whole thing all over again to make sure that the flow of the plot still worked.

Stahelski revealed: "My editorial staff probably hates me because even if we just took 30 seconds out of something, I’d make everybody watch the movie again.

"That’s the only way you know you have the right pace. You feel that bump in movies all the time because they were doing it in pieces and not seeing it as a whole.

"The last thing you want to do is treat it as a bunch of parts," the director added.

And thank goodness for Stahelski's thorough approach to editing as the unreleased flick has already received rave reviews from film critics all over.

John Wick: Chapter 4 will be released in theaters on Friday, March 24.