Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” has been tapped to open this year’s BFI London Film Festival. The 69th edition of the fest runs October 8–19.
The crucial detail here is the “international premiere” label, which all but confirms that the film’s world premiere is set for the Toronto International Film Festival in early September. The first two ‘Knives Out’ were unveiled at Toronto, and there was no reason think this third one wouldn’t have the same fate.
The cast for this one includes Daniel Craig’s return as the Southern sleuth Benoit Blanc, he is joined by Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, and Kerry Washington. Plot details? Not much. Netflix is keeping it all under wraps for now.
Quick refresher: the original “Knives Out” (2019) was made for around $40M and became a word-of-mouth theatrical hit. Then came Netflix, backing up the money truck, and getting the rights for two sequels. ‘Glass Onion’ hit in 2022, dropped on Netflix after a limited theatrical run, and now ‘Wake Up Dead Man,’ which has a $210M budget, will hit streaming on December 12.