The Knives Out movies feel like a return to form in so many ways: they’re not just keeping the classic, Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery alive, but they also invoke the mid-budget thrillers that once had a tangible presence at the box office. In another life, Knives Out and its sequels could have helped even the playing field for smaller films competing against major, Marvel-ified blockbusters. Sadly, though, we’re living in the timeline where Netflix scooped up the rights to distribute those films. The streamer is famously indifferent about box office success (see: all the money left on the table with KPop Demon Hunters), which means that both Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man, the third film in the series, enjoy only the briefest of windows in theaters. It’s a frustrating fate for the franchise — but with Netflix’s deal with director Rian Johnson coming to a close, there’s a chance that future Knives Out films could reach their full potential.
In 2021, Netflix paid a whopping $450 million for the rights to two Knives Out sequels. Wake Up Dead Man is the second and last film in that deal, but Johnson is far from finished with the saga. “I don’t feel burnt out doing these at all,” the filmmaker said at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. “If anything I feel energized after doing [Wake Up Dead Man].”
Johnson would be “thrilled” to keep making Knives Out films alongside Daniel Craig, who’s now played the effusive detective Benoit Blanc for three increasingly intricate films. “As long as audiences want to keep seeing it, and Daniel and I are still having fun making them and still feel like we can come up with stuff that feels not just fresh, but a fresh challenge for us, I think that’ll translate to a new experience for the audience,” he added.
The filmmaker didn’t reveal if he’d be pursuing another two-sequel deal with Netflix, but there is a chance Johnson will choose to keep the franchise where it is. That said, there’s also a chance of Johnson pivoting to work with a different distributor, one that would give future Knives Out films the theatrical rollout they deserve. Johnson already has a good thing going with Universal. The studio has produced two seasons of his other murder mystery anthology, Poker Face, and is notoriously strict about its theatrical windows and streaming premieres. If Johnson strikes a new deal with Universal, any future Knives Out film would spend more than two weeks on big screens. It’s probably wishful thinking, but in a perfect world, the Knives Out franchise could be entering a new era.
