Rian Johnson’s follow-up to 2019 hit “Knives Out” will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, following in the footsteps of the first film’s rollout schedule. “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” marks the return of elite Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) as he travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects. Those suspects include characters played by Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline, along with special appearances by Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista. The first batch of set photos also teased roles played by Ethan Hawke and Jada Pinkett Smith. “Glass Onion” will premiere during the 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival, taking place September 8 through 18. The set date for “Glass Onion” has yet to be announced, nor has its place within the festival as an Opening, Closing, or Centerpiece showcase.
Writer-director Johnson previously described modeling original whodunnit film “Knives Out” after Agatha Christie’s crime caper novels, serializing the mysteries using key character Detective Benoit Blanc as the connective tissue. Netflix announced in March 2021 that the streamer was purchasing the rights to the “Knives Out” franchise and greenlighting two sequels in a deal worth an estimated $450 million, making it the biggest film purchase in Netflix history. The original “Knives Out” was released by Lionsgate in the fall of 2019 following a world premiere at TIFF. The movie earned $311 million on a budget of $40 million. IndieWire chief film critic David Ehrlich gave the film an A- review, calling it “a crackling, devious, and hugely satisfying old-school whodunnit with a modern twist” thanks to the chemistry between Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, and Jamie Lee Curtis, among the ensemble cast. “The movie is set in a changing world that’s tearing up tradition however it can, and the film is genius in how it slowly embodies that change, taking one of the dustiest of genres and reupholstering it from the inside out,” Ehrlich wrote. “This isn’t just ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ with cellphones, but rather a room-shaking crowdpleaser that reckons with how fresh Agatha Christie’s books felt to those who read them in their time. What starts as a simple murder-mystery soon evolves into a brilliant, almost relentlessly fun examination of how the game has changed in a country where victory can’t afford to be as one-sided as it used to be.” For more details on “Knives Out 2” click here. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
