One of my fave cinema-going trips of last year was going to see Rian Johnson’s wonderful ensemble murder-mystery movie Knives Out. The film is a blast from start to finish and it is great to see an original movie – not a sequel, prequel or remake – kicking it with the best of them and taking in tons of money at the box-office ($295 million worldwide so far). More on the Knives Out movie sequel below.
Knives Out movie sequel is currently in development at Lionsgate with writer/ director Rian Johnson
Knives Out movie sequel confirmed!
If you’re unfamiliar with the first film, here’s the official synopsis:
Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi) pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in KNIVES OUT, a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. With an all-star ensemble cast including Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell, KNIVES OUT is a witty and stylish whodunnit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end.
With the news of a sequel being kicked into development, here’s everything we know about ‘Knives Out 2’, or whatever they may call it, so far.
Development
We first heard of a Knives Out sequel at the beginning of 2020 with the news confirmed by Lionsgate’s CEO Jon Feltheimer on a call regarding third-quarter earnings for the company, of which the first Knives Out contributed heavily, grossing $300 million at the global box-office.
Cast
We know that the film will revolve around Daniel Craig’s character of Benoit Blanc, who will return for another mystery. With No Time To Die out in April, his last movie as James Bond, it will be good to see Craig back into another potential franchise.
He was quoted back in January that he would be keen to return with Johnson for a follow-up.
He said: “Sure. I’d be over the moon. I mean, I’d do anything for Rian. If he writes something, I’ll do it. Of course I will. Why wouldn’t I? I had a ton of fun doing it. You aim for that every time, you aim for that to work out. It rarely, rarely does, but it did on that movie and how nice is that?”
As well as Craig, expect a huge cast. In the first Knives Out, we saw the likes of Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer. While we don’t expect any of those to return, expect some equally big names for the follow-up. In fact, Collider report that the next film will have a new cast and a new location.
Here’s Johnson talking about the new movie and the whole new cast, whole new mystery on Sirius.
The Plot
In the interview above, Johnson speaks about the influence of Agatha Christie and how her mystery books explored different genres. He mentions ‘And Then There Were None‘, which he says is essentially a slasher story and ‘The ABC Murders’ which was a serial killer movie. It sounds like Johnson wants to do something similar with future Knives Out movies, which is an interesting prospect. Christie also took her stories to many exotic locations, like Egypt in ‘Death On The Nile’, and on one of the world’s most luxurious railways trains in ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, which again has been turned into movies, most recently by Sir Kenneth Branagh.
Release?
We don’t know anything about the release date as yet, but we’re assuming that we are looking at a potential debut in late 2021? We’ve heard that ‘Knives Out 2’ is being fast-tracked at Lionsgate but again, as Johnson in the interview above says, it sounds like he has only just started writing. We’ll obviously keep you updated.
Knives Out is released on Digital Download on 21st March, and then on DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K UHD 30 March.
