Knives Out 2 Expected to Arrive in Theaters/Netflix in Late 2022

The first hotly anticipated sequel to Rian Johnson’s murder mystery Knives Out, for which Netflix paid a ridiculous $469 million (for the two films), is now expected to arrive before the end of 2022. Variety reports that although the world’s largest streamer hasn’t set a firm date yet, we’ll be seeing Knives Out 2 in the last quarter of the year, possibly in a simultaneous release in both theaters and the Netflix platform. That means the film might begin to premiere during the fall festival season, positioning it for possible Academy Awards consideration. This year’s awards festival will almost certainly be dominated by Netflix films, including the likes of The Power of the Dog, Don’t Look Up and Tick, Tick … Boom!.

Very little remains known about Knives Out 2 except for its high-profile casting sheet, and the fact that like the first film it will follow Daniel Craig’s role as super-sleuth Benoit Blanc, while presumably featuring none of the other characters from the first film. This effectively makes Blanc into an Agatha Christie-style detective protagonist, with a new mystery to tackle in each feature. This time around, the ensemble cast includes plenty more A-list names, including Edward Norton, Ethan Hawke, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick, Kathryn Hahn and Madelyn Cline. Most of the creative team from the first film has likewise been preserved, such as cinematographer Steve Yedlin and editor Bob Ducsay. Clearly, Netflix has put a premium on preserving the visual identity of the first film, which is only to be expected after they paid almost half a BILLION dollars to produce these two features.

The first Knives Out had a fairly modest $40 million budget and went on to earn more than $311 million at the global box office, winning great praise for Johnson as director and visual stylist. Johnson went on to receive Oscar and BAFTA nominations for the film’s screenplay, but you have to imagine that he’ll be gunning for a Best Director nomination this time around at the very least.

As for the release window, one wonders if Netflix’s production of the film might result in a simultaneous release, or if it will follow the precedent of Don’t Look Up, which hit theaters for a few weeks before it first premiered on the streamer. We’ll likely begin unraveling that mystery soon enough.