Knives Out hit cinemas as one of those big ensemble movies that could either work spectacularly well, or fall flat on the belief that a whole slew of big name stars could save it. As it turned out, the former was true and the movie pulled in over $300 million at the box office, pretty much ensuring that it would not be the last we had seen of Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. As it turned out, it did not take very long until sequels were being discussed, but rather than continuing at Lionsgate the Knives Out 2 and 3 will be instead heading to Netflix in a reportedly huge deal that doubled what Lionsgate was willing to pay.
While Rian Johnson has been frequently mentioned in relation to his work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, for better or worse, there is no doubt that he struck gold when writing the screenplay for Knives Out, which earned him an Oscar nomination for his efforts. When it came to the potential for a sequel though, Johnson made sure that deals were still to be done as he held onto the sequel rights until after the first movie’s release. Of course while this is a risk that could have gone either way, it turned out to be a very astute business decision that has seen the value of this work massively increase thanks to Netflix desire to claim a piece of the franchise.
Deadline reported that Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer recently discussed how Netflix came to grab the Knives Out sequels, saying that the streaming platform paid “at least twice Lionsgate’s limit” for the sequels, but additionally when Lionsgate approached Netflix about coming to an arrangement to put together all three movies to be sold out as a package in future, they had no interest in making the deal. He explained that he told Netflix:
“'We're going to make a lot of money; we'll distribute it, we'll take a distribution fee, send it back to you.' It's an interesting, organic idea for them. They thought about it and they said, 'No.'....That was then and this is now. So, I'm going to go back to them.”
Of course, Feltheimer’s reason for going back to Netflix to make the offer again comes after the streaming platform’s decreasing subscriber numbers and massive amounts of overspending came to light last month. Whether they will be more inclined to accept a joint venture now is something that Feltheimer will soon discover.
Knives Out 2 Wrapped Filming Last Year With Its New Cast
Of course, when it comes to murder mystery movies, it is not often that you can have the same cast twice, and that is the case with Knives Out 2. Having started filming last summer, the movie wrapped by September and set images provided a look at the many new faces joining the franchise for this second slash of the blade.
Some of those joining Daniel Craig for another mystery includes Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr., Ethan Hawke and Kate Hudson. Filming took place on location in Greece, meaning we can expect to see a Mediterranean murder ensue in the movie when it arrives on Netflix sometime later this year. The first movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.