With critical acclaim, an Oscar nomination, and a global box office haul fast approaching $300 million, it’s no surprise that there’s been a lot of talk lately concerning a follow-up to Rian Johnson’s star-studded mystery Knives Out.
Well, it seems its now official, as Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has revealed during the studio’s shareholder earnings call that a second film is officially a go, with writer-director Johnson set to return alongside Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc.
Speaking to The Jess Cagle Show, Johnson has revealed that he doesn’t consider the next film to be a direct sequel to Knives Out, but rather a brand new mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie’s Poirot tales.
“The same way Agatha Christie wrote a bunch of Poirot novels, we can do that with Blanc and keep making new mysteries, you know, whole new cast, whole new location, whole new mystery, it’s just another Beniot Blanc mystery… There’s so many different things you could do with it. You look at Agatha Christie’s books for example, it’s not like every single one is a mansion, and a family, and a library, and a detective. Besides settings, she also explored a bunch of different sub-genres, And Then They Were None is essentially a slasher film, it’s basically a horror movie; The ABC Murders is kind of like a proto-serial killer movie in a way. She found a very different narrative way into each of them.”
Are you looking forward to the return of Benoit Blanc for a brand new mystery? Let us know in the comments below or on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
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 whodunit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end.
