Netflix is close to finalizing a massive $400 million deal for Knives Out 2, with director Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig both expected to return. Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and more were all in the midst of a bidding war for the sequel, with Netflix likely to come out ahead. The deal will enable Netflix to potentially turn Knives Out into a full-blown franchise, and alternate reports indicate the streaming service has ordered both Knives Out 2 and Knives Out 3. Filming on the sequel is expected to start this summer, with casting beginning ASAP.
Deadline broke the news that Knives Out 2 is likely headed to Netflix via an eye-popping $400 million deal. Variety actually says it might even be higher, at $450 million, and adds that Netflix is buying both Knives Out 2 and Knives Out 3. That might sound like a lot for Knives Out, especially since the original movie only cost about $40 million to make. But director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman own and license the rights to the original movie, which means they were able to “make the richest sequel deal they could.” A secretive bidding war ensued, with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and others all vying to score the rights. In the end, it looks like Netflix will win out. Casting on the sequel is expected to begin “immediately,” and filming is expected to start on June 28 in Greece.
Plot details aren’t available at this moment, and it looks like the only cast member returning from the star-studded original is Daniel Craig as private detective Benoit Blanc. That makes sense – Blanc is meant to be a Poirot-like character who goes from mystery to mystery, so while it would be nice to see Ana de Armas back again, I understand why she’s unlikely to return. The fact that the film is shooting in Greece suggests that Blanc will end up investigating a mystery overseas, but that’s just speculation on my part. “This’ll be another Poirot novel,” Johnson said of the potential sequel in the past. “This’ll be just like what Agatha Christie did. It’s disconnected from Knives Out. It’s just another case.”
In the original film, Blanc was investigating the death of a famed mystery novelist. The eccentric members of the dead novelist’s family were all suspects, as was his nurse, played by de Armas. It was a funny, twisty, wildly entertaining movie, and I’m excited to see what Johnson does with the material now. It’s all but certain that Johnson will assemble a new star-studded cast for Blanc to investigate. And the fact that there’s already a third film in consideration indicates we’re getting a full-blown Benoit Blanc Netflix franchise, and I for one am here for it.
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