The “Knives Out” franchise is one of the most popular today. The first film not only made quite a bit of money at the box office, but it was also nominated for an Oscar. That’s why Netflix swooped in and made a deal for more “Knives Out” features to be released on the streaming service. But it would appear now, Daniel Craig, star of the franchise, is a bit upset over how the film’s are actually released.
Speaking to Variety, Daniel Craig talked about his desire for Netflix to actually give a full theatrical release to the upcoming “Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.” He believes the film deserves to be seen on the big screen by as many people as possible. Unfortunately, that’s just not how Netflix does business.
“Hopefully, Netflix will push it out a bit, and people will get to see it,” said Craig. “The people I speak to — the fans, I suppose — all they want to do is take their families and go see it at the cinemas. That’s all they want to do. Hopefully we can give them that experience.”
For those unaware, Netflix doesn’t typically do full theatrical releases for its feature films. Most of the time, the film is screened by the bare minimum to be considered for awards, and nothing more. That typically means a film is seen in a handful of theaters about a week or so before it arrives on the streaming service.
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Daniel Craig isn’t a fan of that situation. He wants the “Knives Out” films to be seen by everyone in theaters. He’s reportedly spoken to Netflix boss, Ted Sarandos, about that, where he voiced his frustration. But it doesn’t appear that it has worked at all.
That said, it was recently revealed that Netflix might do a more robust theatrical release for the “Chronicles of Narnia” film that Greta Gerwig is currently working on. However, if that happens, it might lead to more filmmakers and stars (like Craig) to demand the same thing for their own projects. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
But as of now, it doesn’t appear that the “Knives Out” franchise will get a full theatrical release, no matter what Daniel Craig hopes.