Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a 2022 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Johnson and Ram Bergman. It is the sequel to the 2019 film Knives Out, with Daniel Craig reprising his role as master detective Benoit Blanc as he takes on a new case revolving around a tech billionaire and his old friends. The ensemble cast includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.

Johnson had considered the idea of several films featuring the Benoit Blanc character prior to the first film’s release. A sequel was greenlit by its original distributor Lionsgate in 2020, but in March 2021 Netflix bought the rights to two Knives Out sequels for $469 million. The cast signed on that May. Filming took place on the island of Spetses, Greece, in June and July 2021, and continued elsewhere until September.

Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, Glass Onion began a one-week limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, receiving the widest theatrical release ever for a Netflix film and grossed $15 million against a $40 million budget. Netflix began streaming it on December 23.

Similar to Knives Out, Glass Onion received critical acclaim, with praise for its screenplay, direction, performances (particularly those of Craig, Norton, Monáe, and Hudson), and musical score, and was named one of the best films of 2022 by the National Board of Review.

Plot[edit]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Miles Bron, the billionaire co-founder of the Manhattan technology company Alpha, decides to host a murder mystery weekend at his mansion, the Glass Onion, on his private island in Greece. He invites five friends: Alpha head scientist Lionel Toussaint, Connecticut governor Claire Debella, fashion designer Birdie Jay, men’s rights streamer Duke Cody, and fellow co-founder and ousted Alpha CEO Cassandra “Andi” Brand. Detective Benoit Blanc also has an invitation, and joins the group along with Birdie’s assistant Peg and Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey.

Upon arrival, Miles questions Blanc’s presence, but allows him to stay, assuming that another guest invited him as a joke. Blanc overhears Peg confront Miles over a PR statement he wants Birdie to release and sees Duke watch Whiskey flirting with Miles on a bed. Before dinner, Miles shows off the Mona Lisa that he has on loan from the Louvre and reveals that the Glass Onion is powered by Klear, a hydrogen-based alternative fuel that Alpha will launch in a week despite Lionel and Claire’s safety concerns.

Blanc solves the murder mystery immediately and tensions over Andi’s presence culminate in her leaving the party. Suddenly, Duke collapses and dies after drinking from Miles’s glass; the panicking group suspects Andi. After the group discovers that Duke’s pistol is missing, the power goes out, and everyone splits up in a panic. Blanc finds Andi but an unknown assailant shoots her. Blanc gathers the rest of the group and announces that he has solved Andi’s murder.

An extended flashback shows that Blanc was hired by Helen Brand, Andi’s twin sister, to investigate her death a week before the trip. Andi had been ousted from Alpha for refusing to release Klear because of the risk of explosions. She lost the subsequent trial after the group perjured themselves by claiming it was Miles who had written the idea for Alpha on a napkin. Helen suspects that someone in the group killed her to avoid being discredited and gain favor with Miles, after Andi rediscovered the original napkin and emailed a picture to the group. As news of her death has not been released, Blanc asks Helen to pose as Andi for the weekend trip to help him investigate.

Helen helps Blanc discover motives for the group to protect Miles: Lionel and Claire have already staked their reputations on Klear, Birdie is being paid off to take responsibility for using a sweatshop in Bangladesh, and Duke is using Whiskey to seduce Miles into giving him a role at Alpha News. Helen also discovers that all four other guests had visited Andi’s home the day of the murder. Blanc and Helen ruin the party so she can search the guest rooms for the napkin. When Blanc finds her again that night, he instructs her to also search Miles’s office. The assailant’s bullet is blocked by Andi’s journal in Helen’s jacket pocket, and Blanc fakes her death to give her an opportunity to search the office.

In the art room, Blanc gives a long-winded speech to buy time and reveals that Miles was responsible for both murders. Miles killed Andi after learning about the napkin’s reemergence from Lionel and was spotted leaving by Duke. After news of the death was released on the internet during the party, Duke realized the truth and attempted to blackmail Miles. This prompted Miles to poison Duke with pineapple juice, which Duke was allergic to, and use Duke’s pistol to shoot Helen. Helen locates the napkin in Miles’s office and reveals her true identity to the group. However, Miles burns the napkin and brags that now there is no evidence against him. With Blanc unable to help and the group unwilling to side with her, Helen destroys Miles’s glass sculptures, which motivates the others to do the same. She then lights a bonfire and throws a sample of Klear into it, setting off an explosion that destroys the Glass Onion and the Mona Lisa, though everyone survives. Because the subsequent investigation will discover the dangers of Klear and ruin Miles, the group decides to testify against him. Helen and Blanc sit on the beach as they watch the police arrive.

Cast[edit]

• Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc,^[3][4] a detective hired by Helen Brand to investigate her sister’s murder^[5]
• Edward Norton as Miles Bron, a New York billionaire and owner of a large technology company^[6][7]
• Janelle Monáe as Helen and Andi Brand, twin sisters, with the latter being Miles’s ex-business partner^[3][5][8]
• Kathryn Hahn as Claire Debella, the governor of Connecticut, now running for the Senate^[3][9]
• Leslie Odom Jr. as Lionel Toussaint, the head scientist for Miles’s company^[3][10]
• Jessica Henwick as Peg, Birdie’s assistant^[3][11]
• Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, Duke’s girlfriend and Twitch channel assistant^[3][12]
• Kate Hudson as Birdie Jay, a former supermodel turned fashion designer in Manhattan^[3][13]
• Dave Bautista as Duke Cody, a streamer and men’s rights activist^[3][14]
• Noah Segan as Derol, a slacker who lives on Miles’s island. Segan previously appeared in Knives Out (2019) as Trooper Wagner.
• Jackie Hoffman as Ma Cody, Duke’s mother^[15]
• Dallas Roberts as Devon Debella, Claire’s husband^[16]

Additionally, Ethan Hawke briefly appears as Miles’s assistant (credited as “Efficient Man”),^[17][18][19] Hugh Grant cameos as Phillip, Blanc’s domestic partner,^[17] and Joseph Gordon-Levitt voices Miles’s clock, the Hourly Dong.^[20] Several celebrities make cameo appearances as themselves, including Stephen Sondheim,^[21] Dame Angela Lansbury,^[21] Natasha Lyonne,^[22] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,^[23][24] Yo-Yo Ma,^[22] Jake Tapper, and Serena Williams.^[25] Sondheim and Lansbury both died before Glass Onion was released,^[21] and the film is dedicated to both of them. Jared Leto and Jeremy Renner‘s likenesses appear on bottles of kombucha and hot sauce, respectively.^[26]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

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 was not based on existing intellectual property.^[27][28] Before its release, writer and director Rian Johnson had teased the possibility of a sequel revolving around the lead character, Detective Benoit Blanc.^[29][30] The sequel was officially greenlit by Lionsgate in early 2020.^[29][30] In March 2021, Netflix outbid Amazon and Apple at an auction to acquire the rights to the film and another sequel to Knives Out for $469 million, with Johnson returning as director, Daniel Craig set to reprise his role as Blanc, and a budget of at least $40 million for the first installment.^[4][31] Johnson, Craig, and the producer Ram Bergman reportedly earned more than $100 million for both productions.^[31][32] A losing bidder called it an inexplicable and “mind-boggling” deal.^[33]

Craig worked with a dialect coach to regain familiarity with Blanc’s Southern accent.^[34] Johnson previously considered having Blanc speak with an inexplicably different accent in each film.^[35]

Writing[edit]

Johnson made it clear that Glass Onion was not a continuation of its predecessor but a standalone film featuring a new story and cast, similar to the Hercule Poirot novel series by Agatha Christie.^[36][37] In addition to Christie novels, he took inspiration from “tropical getaway murder mysteries” like Evil Under the Sun and especially The Last of Sheila,^[18] saying: “It’s structured around a group of friends, or frenemies, who all have a power dynamic with one of their successful friends. It begins with him sending an invitation for them to come and play this murder mystery game at this exotic locale. In The Last of Sheila, it’s on his yacht, and everything ends up going horribly wrong. That is essentially how Glass Onion begins.”^[7] Johnson wanted the film’s title to refer to something hidden in plain sight. He chose “glass” because it is clear, and searched his phone for songs with the word. He landed on “Glass Onion” by the Beatles and, as a fan of the band, picked it as the title.^[7] The song is featured in the end credits of the film.^[18]

The character of Benoit Blanc was revealed to be gay in the film. When asked if it was always the plan to have Blanc be a queer character, Johnson said “I wasn’t really thinking about it but yeah, I would say so. It kind of made sense, to the point that when I started writing the second one, it didn’t feel like a big decision. When it was time to get a glimpse of his home life, it felt very natural.”^[38]

Casting[edit]

Johnson described casting the film as “throwing a dinner party”.^[7] Dave Bautista said Johnson encouraged him to audition during an unprompted call, and Kathryn Hahn secured her role over several Zoom calls with Johnson.^[39][40]

Filming[edit]

Returning Knives Out crew members included cinematographer Steve Yedlin, editor Bob Ducsay, and composer Nathan Johnson.^[37][41] Filming began in Spetses, an island in Greece, on June 28, 2021. Johnson discovered the Aman Resorts‘ Villa 20 in Porto Heli and decided to use it as a major filming location. It also housed the cast and their families for the majority of the shoot, which Johnson described as “a summer vacation where we also made a movie”.^[7] The shoot moved out of Greece on July 30, and wrapped officially on September 13, 2021.^[42][43]

Music[edit]

Rian’s cousin and frequent composer Nathan Johnson returned to score for Glass Onion; it marks their fifth collaboration working together after Brick (2006), The Brothers Bloom (2009), Looper (2012) and the predecessor, Knives Out (2019). The album was released by Netflix Music on November 25, 2022.^[44]

Release[edit]

Glass Onion premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022.^[1][18][45] It also screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival in October 2022, closed both the BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 2022, and Film Fest 919 on October 30, 2022^[46][47] and screened the Miami International Film Festival as its opening night film on November 3, 2022.^[48] It was released on Netflix on December 23, 2022.^[49][7]

Netflix was reportedly considering 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.^[50] On October 6, 2022, Netflix announced that after signing deals with the three largest theater chains in the United States (AMC Theaters, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark, the latter of whom Netflix had a pre-existing deal with), the film would see a very limited one-week theatrical release (billed as a “sneak preview” release) from November 23 to 29, 2022, in roughly 600 theaters in the largest markets across the United States as well in other international markets, marking the first time a Netflix-distributed film would be shown in all three major theater chains in the United States. After the release is over, Netflix would then pull the film from distribution until the Netflix release on December 23, at which point Netflix would allow theaters to show the film again.^[51] Deadline Hollywood later reported that Netflix agreed to take a lower amount of the rental revenue than usual from theaters (40% vs. 60-70%), as well as to kick in four times the average amount of money for exhibitor marketing. Deadline also reported that some smaller exhibitors that were interested in playing the film were shut out from the one-week limited release as Netflix preferred more popular theaters for Glass Onion.^[52]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

In the United States and Canada, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was released alongside Strange World, Devotion, and the wide expansions of Bones and All and The Fabelmans, and was initially projected to gross around $6–8 million from 698 theaters over its five-day opening weekend.^[53] As with their other theatrical releases, Netflix did not release any box office numbers for the film. Deadline Hollywood reported that the film made an estimated $2–2.5 million on its first day, which led to estimates being raised to as much as $12.3 million.^[54] The Hollywood Reporter later reported that the film went on to debut with an estimated $13.1 million over the five-day weekend, which would be the best-performing theatrical release for Netflix, and third for the weekend had Netflix officially released box office numbers, behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Strange World.^[55]

Critical response[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 313 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website’s consensus reads, “Glass Onion brings back Benoit Blanc for another wildly entertaining mystery rounded out by an outstanding ensemble cast.”^[56] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 61 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”.^[57]

Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman praised the film as, “a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery” than the first film.^[18]

The film’s characters and plot have been likened to current business magnates. Calder McHugh of Politico described the film as “an allegory for all of us living with the omnipresent Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos“^[58] while James Downie of MSNBC claimed Norton’s character Miles Bron’s “mixture of bluster, hubris and half-baked ideas will likely bring to mind Twitter owner and part-time car enthusiast Elon Musk.”^[59] Of the film’s relevance to current events, Rian Johnson claimed “A friend of mine said, ‘Man, that feels like it was written this afternoon.’ And that’s just sort of a horrible, horrible accident, you know?”^[60]

Accolades[edit]

Sequel[edit]

Netflix holds the film rights to at least one more Knives Out film.^[31] In September 2022, Johnson confirmed his intention to make more.^[79] Later that month, Craig and Johnson both separately stated that they will continue making additional films in the series, so long as they are both involved together.^[80] In November 2022, Johnson said that he was preparing to work on writing the third film.^[81]