Knives Out, Glass Onion centers on Daniel Craig's sassy Southern detective, Benoit Blanc, who is hired to investigate a new case full of larger-than-life characters. Glass Onion is a unique Netflix production because the Knives Out franchise was not created by the entertainment company, but instead bought following the success of the first movie.
The decision to take over a popular franchise is an intriguing one given Netflix has a track record of producing successful original content, though more often with TV series. Netflix's best TV franchises has not yet been replicated by its movie offerings, so the strategy to buy Glass Onion could be a sign of what to expect from Netflix in the future.
Netflix Has Struggled Creating Major Movie Franchises
Ever since Netflix moved into movie production in 2015 it has struggled to establish a popular franchise, but not for the want of trying. Productions such as The Gray Man have had budgets breaking into $200 million and starred recognizable A-listers like Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Gosling. While the viewing figures for the two movies are applaudable, respectively the first and fourth most-watched Netflix films of all time, the critical and general response to the quality of the Netflix productions has been hugely underwhelming compared to the platform's TV series counterparts.
Jurassic Park which continue to release box-office hits. Given Netflix hasn't been able to compete with industry giants, it’s no surprise that the company bought Glass Onion following Knives Out’s success commercially and during awards season.
Netflix's Knives Out Deal Explained
Knives Out director Rian Johnson had ideas for several movies to put Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc in before the first installment of the franchise was even released. The success of Knives Out made a sequel inevitable, and the original movie's distributors, Lionsgate, greenlit a second movie in early 2020. But following significant interest from Netflix, Amazon, and Apple a bidding war began in the following year for the rights of Glass Onion and another Knives Out sequel.
In March 2021, Netflix won the Knives Out auction and acquired Glass Onion and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
How Glass Onion's Success Could Trigger More Deals Like Knives Out's
Glass Onion has been a huge hit with Netflix subscribers having racked up over 209 million hours of viewership in less than two weeks following its release on December 23, 2022. More still, Glass Onion has been a critical triumph, holding a 93% Tomatometer score on Glass Onion has received has been the company's reward.
The undeniable success of Glass Onion will almost certainly lead to Netflix and other streaming platforms buying out existing franchises, rather than only sticking to the difficult and expensive task of trying to create new IPs. Most of the highest-grossing movies of the last few years are already owned by the likes of Disney, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros, but Netflix should continue to acquire proven commodities at the right price. Like Glass Onion, what franchise Netflix chooses to take over next is a mystery, but the now tried and tested strategy will play a key role in the future of the movie production industry.
