A donut, inside another donut...
'Knives Out' was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable movies of 2019 and, by far, the best whodunnit put to screens in quite some time.
Rian Johnson perfectly blended murder-mystery with comedy, bringing together a literal who's-who of talent that included Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Toni Colette, the late great Christopher Plummer, and of course, Daniel Craig as the investigator Benoit Blanc.
Pretty much right after the movie landed in cinemas, a sequel was put into works by Rian Johnson and in March of last year, Netflix paid a whopping $469 million for the rights to not one, but two sequels.
With that in mind, let's delve into what we know so far about the 'Knives Out' sequel that's expected this year...
OK, TO BEGIN WITH, WHY IS IT GETTING A SEQUEL?
Well, the first one was hugely critically-acclaimed and audiences also ate it up too. Against a budget of $40 million, the movie managed to grab a global box office of $311 million - which is huge for a movie with that kind of budget. Not only that, the movie sort of lends itself to a sequel in a much more natural way.
'Knives Out' and Daniel Craig's character, Benoit Blanc, borrowed heavily from Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie's novels featuring the character. Like that, there can be one character that links a new cast and a new murder, so a sequel to 'Knives Out' is pretty much a given. Just look at 'Columbo' too. Each episode, he'd go to a murder, investigate it, catch the killer, and there'd be a new murder each episode. Not that the 'Knives Out' sequel is going to be a TV show, but you get the idea.
THAT MEANS DANIEL CRAIG IS BACK FOR THE SEQUEL?
Seeing as how his dance-card is empty at the minute what with him retiring from Bond, yes, he's back as Benoit Blanc. However, it's not yet been confirmed if any of the original cast will be returning for the sequel. It seems unlikely, given that most of these murder-mystery movies have one cast and one returning character. So far, only one other cast member has been confirmed to return outside of Daniel Craig, and that's Noah Segan. He's been in pretty much every one of Rian Johnson's movies, like 'Looper', 'Brick', and 'Knives Out' where he played Trooper Wagner.
'KNIVES OUT' HAD A HUGE CAST - WILL THE SEQUEL DO THE SAME?
Naturally.
The cast announced so far includes (sharp intake of breath) Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Ethan Hawke, Jessica Henwick, Leslie Odom Jr., Madelyn Cline, and probably a few dozen more yet to come. Kathryn Hahn and Kate Hudson are reuniting for the first time since early aughts rom-com classic 'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days', while Daniel Craig and Dave Bautista are back together again after their tumbles in 'Spectre'.
WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE ABOUT?
That's the thing!
We don't know the title, and we don't know anything yet but we can pretty much tell you what it's going to be about. So far, there's been some set photos that have made their way online, but nothing official from Netflix or Rian Johnson. If you've watched 'Columbo', any of 'Poirot', or basically any murder mystery you can think of, you can gather that it's going to be a variation on a time-honoured formula. That formula? Rich assholes in exotic locale murders one of their own or some poor unfortunate, enter unattached observer who reveals how awful said rich assholes are, zeroes in on the murderer and unveil their elaborate scheme, the murderer is revealed and gets their justice with some amount of irony and poetry attached.
SO WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE RELEASED? WILL IT BE IN CINEMAS OR IS IT GOING STRAIGHT TO NETFLIX?
Seeing as Netflix paid out as much as it did, the likelihood is that it'll have a short window in cinemas before it goes to Netflix. Normally, you'll find it select cinemas for about two weeks, maybe three, and then it'll go to Netflix. So far, there's been no word on an official date. Filming finally wrapped after a number of pandemic-related delays in September of last year, so odds are it's in editing and post-production right now with a release date either some time in the summer or perhaps later in the year.