From Blacklisted to Unstoppable: Keanu Reeves Keeps His 12-Film Fresh Streak Alive With Good Fortune
Before John Wick and The Matrix turned him into a global icon, Keanu Reeves revealed he had been blacklisted by Fox — a career roadblock he first detailed in a 2019 GQ interview.
Keanu Reeves once got iced out by a major studio for nearly a decade. Now he is quietly on one of the steadiest hot streaks in town, and his new movie just kept it rolling.
The Fox fallout that followed 'no' on Speed 2
Back in the late 90s, Reeves turned down Speed 2 while Sandra Bullock signed on. Fox did not love that decision. As he told GQ in 2019, the studio stopped hiring him for years after he passed on the sequel.
'I didn't work with [Fox] again until The Day the Earth Stood Still.'
It stung at the time, but in hindsight he dodged a torpedo. Speed 2 tanked and even picked up a Razzie for Worst Sequel. Reeves eventually circled back to Fox with 2008's The Day the Earth Stood Still and, from there, kept stacking wins.
Good Fortune lands, and the streak stays intact
Fast-forward to now: Good Fortune hit US theaters on October 17, 2025. It is Aziz Ansari's feature directing debut, and he stars in it with Seth Rogen. Reeves plays an awkward guardian angel who tries to improve people's lives and mostly creates chaos instead. Early reaction is exactly what you want for a quirky high-concept comedy: a 77% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes so far, even before box office numbers settle. Critics are into it, which should help word of mouth and, yes, it keeps his run of critic-approved films alive.
Six years, zero Rotten: 12 straight Fresh movies
Since 2019, Reeves has not headlined a single movie that critics labeled Rotten. That stretch kicked off with John Wick: Chapter 3 and a pitch-perfect cameo as himself in Netflix's Always Be My Maybe, then rolled right into a busy 2019 with Toy Story 4 (as daredevil Duke Caboom) and Between Two Ferns: The Movie. He also revisited the classics without phoning it in: Ted in Bill & Ted Face the Music, Neo in The Matrix Resurrections, and the most polished Wick yet with Chapter 4. He even expanded the Wick world with a turn in the spinoff Ballerina. And it is not all gun-fu and grimacing; he has been a steady presence in family fare like The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, DC League of Super-Pets, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
- John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) - 89%
- Always Be My Maybe (2019) - 89%
- Toy Story 4 (2019) - 96%
- Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019) - 73%
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020) - 66%
- Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) - 83%
- The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - 63%
- DC League of Super-Pets (2022) - 72%
- John Wick: Chapter 4 (2024) - 94%
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) - 86%
- Ballerina (2025) - 75%
- Good Fortune (2025) - 77% (so far)
Good Fortune is now playing in US theaters. And I have to ask: if Reeves had done Speed 2, do you think it would have saved that ship? I have my doubts, but I am listening.