Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (EXCLUSIVE SERIES) (NETFLIX)

Studios: Netflix/T-Street Productions

Plot: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Cast

Daniel Craig - Benoit Blanc

Edward Norton - Miles Bron

Janelle Monae - Andi Brand

Kathryn Hahn - Claire Debella

Leslie Odom Jr. - Lionel Toussaint

Kate Hudson - Birdie Jay

Dave Bautista - Duke Cody

Jessica Henwick - Peg

Madelyn Cline - Whiskey

Noah Segoi - Derol

Jackie Hoffman - Ma

Dallas Roberts - Devan Dabella

Writer/director: Rian Johnson (Knives Out; Star Wars: The Last Jedi)

Rated PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content (139 minutes)

When I first watched the 2019 mystery, 'Knives Out,' I was pleasantly surprised. That film had several twists and turns and plenty of surprises. Well, get ready for more surprises in this stand-alone sequel 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.'

Just like the previous film, 'Glass Onion' is an intriguing little mystery that will really keep you guessing all the way to the end. There is also a good amount of tense moments scattered throughout as well.

All of the actors did a great job in the film. Dave Bautista can be quite humorous in a few of his scenes and former 007 Daniel Craig is always great in all his scenes.

One thing I love about these mysteries is that once you think you have it figured out, you don't. This is one of those films that Netflix should've given a wide release before it hit the streamer. I'm glad I caught this film before my subscription ended!!

So, if you're looking for an intriguing mystery filled with suspense, tense moments and even a few chuckles, make sure to catch 'Glass Onion' on Netflix!!

Here are some interesting tidbits for 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery':

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt voices Miles's clock, the Hourly Dong. He has appeared in all of Rian Johnson's films.

• Rian Johnson has stated that he briefly considered a running joke of having Daniel Craig play Benoit Blanc with a different accent each film without any explanation at all, but decided against it.

• When Netflix bought the rights for the film, a third movie also began development, again with Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig returning.

• On October 6, 2022, Netflix announced that it had struck a deal with AMC, Regal, and Cinemark to release this film in theaters for one week starting on November 23 in about 600 theaters in the United States and overseas, making this the first Netflix film to be screened by all three theater chains.

• Somewhat unusually for films of fiction made during the surge of COVID-19, characters are actually seen wearing face masks at times in this movie. It's revealed at the beginning that the film is set in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

• One of the first major American movies released to acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown of 2020 within its story.

• Despite this film having only a 7-day theatrical window, it has done extremely well at the box office in many countries.

• Ethan Hawke's cameo wasn't planned in advance, but Hawke happened to be nearby in Budapest shooting 'Moon Knight' and came to Greece for a day to shoot his scene.

• The 2019 film 'Knives Out' was a commercially successful production from MRC and Lionsgate Films. It grossed over $311 million on a budget of $40 million, making it the third highest-grossing original movie of the year that wasn't based on an existing IP. Before its release, Johnson had teased the possibility of a sequel involving the Benoit Blanc character.

• The sequel was officially greenlit by Lionsgate in early 2020. In March 2021, Netflix outbid Amazon and Apple at an auction to acquire the film rights for $469 million.

• Johnson wrote 'Glass Onion' in 2020 during the lockdown with its setting of Greece coming from a desire to travel abroad when international travel had been shutdown at the time. His writing began from a premise that he wanted to write a whodunit "vacation mystery" in the style of stories Johnson loves such as 'Evil Under the Sun,' 'Death on the Nile' and 'The Last of Sheila.'

• 'Glass Onion' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022. It was released on Netflix on December 23, 2022.

• Netflix was rumored to consider a new release model for films like 'Glass Onion,' which would give the film a 45 day window in theaters before being released on the streaming service. On October 6, Netflix announced that after signing deals with the 3 largest theater chains in the US (AMC; Regal Cinemas; Cinemark), the film would see a very limited one week theatrical release from Nov. 23 - 29, in roughly 600 theaters in the largest markets across the US.

• After the release was over, Netflix pulled the film from distribution until the Netflix release, at which point Netflix would allow theaters to show the film again.

• In domestic theaters, it was released alongside 'Strange World,' 'Devotion' and the wide expansions of 'Bones and All' and 'The Fabelmans,' and was initially projected to gross around $6 to 8 million over its 5 day opening weekend. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film went on to debut with an estimated $13.1 million, which would be the best-performing theatrical release for Netflix, and third for the weekend had Netflix officially released numbers.