Filmmaker Rian Johnson looked all ready and poised to join the “Star Wars” universe for a few years following the success of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” But on the way to making it, Johnson decided to do a relatively smaller, detective mystery comedy as a palette cleanser first. That film, “Knives Out” became a huge hit for Lionsgate, grossing $311.4 million off a $30 million budget. Along the way, toxic “Star Wars” fandom seemingly dissuaded him from jumping back into the Lucasfilm pool immediately, and instead, he started crafting ideas to turn “Knives Out” into a franchise.
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Cut to a few years later and Netflix purchased the rights from Lionsgate to two “Knives Out” sequels for a whopping $469 million, making Johnson an incredibly rich man who will never ever need a franchise film again if he doesn’t want one (which makes the possibility of an eventual “Star Wars” film seem slim).
And so “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is ready and coming out later this year. Once again starring Daniel Craig, reprising his role as Benoit Blanc, a master detective taking on a new murder case, the film features a massive ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick, and Ethan Hawke.
Set in a gorgeously sun-dappled vacation setting in Greece, not much is known about the plot, but the format is likely the same: an Agatha Christie-like set up with a murder, a coterie of suspects and Benoit Blanc doing his expert snooping to track down the killer.
Despite the massive price tag Netflix spent, the cost of the film is still low and said to be in the $30–50 million range. Of course, Netflix, following their stock market plummet, is rumored to be reconsidering their investment in auteur-driven, mid-budget films—films like “Knives Out,” essentially—but they’ve committed to this one, so there’s at least no going back on the two films. Regardless, audiences should be thrilled. “Knives Out” provided a lot serrated laughs, vicious socio-political comedy, and sharp insights into the dark side of human betrayals, secrets, and lies. Presumably, Johnson will be telling a similar, but still unique tale in that vein.
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” hits Netflix on December 23, 2022, but will get a theatrical run starting sometime in November. Watch the first trailer below.