#knives-out-franchise

#knives-out-franchise

What sets writer-directorRian Johnson'sfilms apart from other franchises on the current movie landscape isn't just their ingeniously twisty scripts and A-list-packed casts, it's their distinctive take on the possibilities of serial filmmaking. As with the Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries that are among Johnson's primary inspirations, each installment starts the Knives Out universe anew: The full cast of characters turns over, with the exception of Daniel Craig's courtly private eye Benoit Blanc, and the locations and even the tone radically shift.

Back in 2019, I interviewed Rian Johnson at the Toronto International Film Festival the morning after the world premiere of the first "Knives Out." This somehow seems both like not that long ago and impossibly ancient history, all at the same time. But it was a time in which Johnson was still regularly asked what his three upcoming "Star Wars" movies were going to be about.

The Knives Out movies feel like a return to form in so many ways: they're not just keeping the classic, Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery alive, but they also invoke the mid-budget thrillers that once had a tangible presence at the box office. In another life, Knives Out and its sequels could have helped even the playing field for smaller films competing against major, Marvel-ified blockbusters. Sadly, though, we're living in the timeline where Netflix scooped up the rights to distribute those films.