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Netflix shells out a whopping US$450 million for exclusive sequels to Knives Out

By Tim Augustin - on 1 Apr 2021, 2:34pm

Netflix shells out a whopping US$450 million for exclusive sequels to Knives Out

Image: Lionsgate

Netflix is going all in on Knives Out. 

The fantastic whoddunit murder-mystery movie Knives Out is getting two sequels in a row, and both of them are going to be exclusive to Netflix. According to a new report from Variety, Netflix bought the sequel rights for a whopping US$450 million. Variety calls it, “one of the biggest deals ever made for the rights to a movie series.”

Although Knives Out is still a year or two out from becoming a franchise, it’s poised to be quite the get for Netflix. The first movie was made on a US$40 million budget, and went on to gross US$311 million worldwide - making it a huge success for Lionsgate. The next two movies will reportedly revolve around Daniel Craig’s character Benoit Blanc solving different mysteries. Writer-director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) will return to helm the sequels, as well. 

Knives Out 2 will begin production in Greece later in 2021, so a 2022 debut for the sequel is likely. The first movie was a wonderful throwback to old-fashioned murder mysteries, in which Benoit Blanc investigated a rich family full of bizarre characters to figure out who killed the family’s head. Upon its release, the movie received critical praise and multiple nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Saturn Awards. Take our word for it - it’s very good. 

Director Rian Johnson has a ton of projects lined up at this point, including a mystery series called Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne for another streaming service: Peacock. He was also meant to develop a new Star Wars movie trilogy, but that project seems to have not moved forward since 2017. 

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