Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (December 23 @ Netflix)

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is closing in on a deal to make two sequels to the 2019 hit whodunit Knives Out, which Rian Johnson will direct with Daniel Craig reprising his role as super sleuth Benoit Blanc. Johnson, who wrote the original, has written the sequels and is producing with partner Ram Bergman. Sources said the deal will be worth north of $400 million, making it one of the biggest streamer movie deals in history.

A sequel was expected, but the recent discreet auction that went on between three streamers — Apple and Amazon were the others — was a surprise. How was it possible? The original was acquired in a single picture deal by MRC, which distributed the film through Lionsgate. The first film cost $40 million and turned in a global gross north of $311 million. Owned and licensed by Johnson and Bergman on a picture by picture basis, Johnson and Bergman had the right to make the richest sequel deal they could. It gives Netflix a bonafide event film franchise for its slate. The first picture will begin shooting June 28 in Greece, and casting will begin immediately.

The deal is remarkable, considering Knives Out‘s origins. It happened because Danny Boyle exited the James Bond movie, leaving Craig with some downtime. Johnson, who loved the Agatha Christie whodunits, had one of those in mind, and he and Bergman readied it before Cary Joji Fukunaga came in as 007 director and was ready to shoot No Time To Die, Craig’s swan song as the British secret agent. Knives Out, with a killer cast and a meticulously crafted script, was a crowd pleasing hit that sets up perfectly for more mysteries. This deal should land in the $450 million range.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I think Netflix is printing money at this point, they just keep throwing it. Enjoyed the first one though so 2 more sounds good to me.

Detective Benoit Blanc is back in the first trailer for Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” Daniel Craig returns in the lead role of the murder mystery sequel, but this time he will be interrogating an entirely new ensemble cast: Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick and Ethan Hawke.

“Glass Onion” is set in Greece on the private island of tech billionaire Miles Bron, played by Norton, where another game of whodunnit will take place.

The original “Knives Out” opened to rave reviews in November 2019 and earned $311 million at the worldwide box office, an impressive gross for an original script that’s light on action and heavy on dialogue. Johnson earned an Oscar nomination for original screenplay. Whereas Lionsgate released the first film, “Glass Onion” has the backing of Netflix after the streaming giant made a reported $450 million deal to acquire two “Knives Out” sequels.

“I really think it’s going to be as good, if not better, than the first one,” Bautista told People magazine last summer when the film was in production. “I’m always afraid to say that because I don’t want anybody to get offended saying that we’re going to be better, but I really do think this. I think the characters are just so much more colorful. I think people are really going to dig this.”

Bautista continued, “The characters are just so great. They’re so different. Everybody’s cast so well. I was working with a couple of my castmates and was mesmerized by their performances and just how well they’ve adapted into these characters. I think the characters in this are even more quirky than the first one.”

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” will make its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in September, and will later debut on Netflix Dec. 23.

UltimateMarvel wrote:A trailer FINALLY! I'll be all over this. Loved the first one.

WyldeMan wrote:I enjoyed the first one but I need to rewatch, I only ever saw it the one time and can't say I retained all that much.

It's nice to see that Kate Hudson's still a smoke show.  

WyldeMan wrote:I haven't seen Ed Norton in anything besides Bourne Legacy and Birdman in the last 12 years. A few months back I rewatched my favorite movies from the the early part of his career; Primal Fear, American History X, Fight Club, Rounders and Death to Smoochy but I figured we'd mostly seen the end of his career by this point. For the longest time, not many in Hollywood were willing to work with someone as notoriously difficult as him, so I'm pumped to see him finally returning and I hope this is the beginning of a comeback.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Yeah, Kate still got it.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Been a while since I've seen Norton too and he seems to have aged a bit. The only time I've known him to have issues was during Hulk and even then I'm not sure what really happened. I didn't know he was difficult to work with.

WyldeMan wrote:At the start of his tenure with Marvel, Kevin Feige fired Norton from the Hulk and released a statement basically calling him "unprofessional and uncooperative" which Norton denied every bit of. Basically Norton and Terrence Howard were both fired by Feige over very similar reasons but it boiled down to him wanting to replace them.

I remember issues going all the way back to the beginning of Norton's career with American History X where he and the director Tony kaye had endless fights. It's not so much that he's an asshole or an egomaniac but he could get pretty controlling over projects that were personal to him and it rubbed a lot of directors the wrong way.

We're not talking about a Mike Meyers or Will Smith level ego but Norton is a very passionate dude and always seemed more than willing to fight with a director if he thought his ideas were better and for a long time, he was considered difficult because of it and he wasn't really booking work.

However, Norton's talent cannot be denied and I hope he's found some directors to work with who aren't such cry babies.