Netflix Is Paying At Least $400 Million For Two “Knives Out” Sequels Starring Daniel Craig
The first Knives Out movie was released in November 2019, and it has grossed more than $311 million worldwide on an initial budget of $40 million, which is the exact opposite of Cats. When a movie cranks out that much surprise moolah for the people at the top, a sequel follows, of course. But surprise surprise! There will be at least two sequels, and there was a bidding war between Netflix, Amazon, and Apple over Knives And Forks Out and Knives, Forks, And Spoons Out (working titles). Deadline says that Netflix won the bidding war by agreeing to pay at least $400 million for both sequels. $399 million of which is going to the true star of the film: Chris Evans‘ sweater.
The first Knives Out starred Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, and Christopher Plummer. Daniel Craig will be back as Benoit Blanc for the sequels, but unclear if any other cast members will return. They should just cast Toni Collette as every character and call it a day.
$400 million is a lot, but Deadline says that the Netflix deal could actually end up landing in the $450 million range, which would net director Rian Johnson and his production partner, Ram Bergman, one of the biggest streamer movie deals in history. Rian has written both sequels and will produce with Ram. Filming is scheduled to start this summer in Greece.
A sequel was expected, but the recent discreet auction that went on between three streamers — Apple and Amazon were the others — was a surprise. How was it possible? The original was acquired in a single picture deal by MRC, which distributed the film through Lionsgate. The first film cost $40 million and turned in a global gross north of $311 million. Owned and licensed by Johnson and Bergman on a picture by picture basis, Johnson and Bergman had the right to make the richest sequel deal they could. It gives Netflix a bonafide event film franchise for its slate. The first picture will begin shooting June 28 in Greece, and casting will begin immediately.
Lionsgate is definitely bawling today because although they distributed the first movie, they have no stake in the sequels. So far no reps have commented on the deals.
You can go ahead and file this story under: The reason why Netflix is going to raise their subscription prices AGAIN! But I’ll probably watch them both. And there are no plot details for the sequels, but you can guarantee that no villain will be seen holding an iPhone. Hopefully, the plot will follow Benoit Blanc as he tries to find out who really threw that cardboard cutout of Ana De Armas into Ben Affleck’s trash can. The true mystery of our generation!
Pic: Wenn.com