TORONTO (AP) — For the third time, the knives had been out on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition.
Rian Johnson on Saturday night time premiered the third film in his whodunit collection, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.” Just like the earlier two films, “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion,” Johnson introduced a cavalcade of stars to Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre for what was simply the most popular ticket of the pageant.
“This is my favorite place to be in the world,” mentioned Johnson, recalling the same TIFF first weekend premieres of his first two mysteries.
“Wake Up, Dead Man” is arguably Johnson’s darkest, most intricate and most star-studded “Knives Out” thriller but. It contains loads of the quips which have characterised the primary two films (there are “Star Wars” and “Scooby Doo” references), however the movie can also be extra ambitiously existential.
Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc returns for a homicide case involving an area church, with themes of fact, lies and charm threaded all through. Josh O’Connor stars a younger priest named Jud Duplenticy, with Josh Brolin because the Monsignor and Glenn Shut as a religious parishioner. The solid additionally contains Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Daryl McCormack, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church and Cailee Spaeny.
“The first one was kind of a cozy, Agatha Christie family mystery. The second one was a big blow-out vacation mystery. And with this third one, we’re going back to the roots of the genre,” Johnson said. “And the roots of genre actually lie in Edgar Allan Poe. A little gothic. We’re going to go by way of Poe into some John Dickson Carr. We’re going to veer into some G.K. Chesterton with the Father Brown mysteries. And we’re going to go back to church.”
After the screening, the solid spoke about their pleasure at being inducted into Johnson’s “Knives Out” ensembles. Renner mentioned it was “like winning the lottery.” Washington in contrast it to an all-star group.
“Putting this many stars into one film is literally like herding cats,” mentioned a beaming Craig.
After the primary “Knives Out” was launched in 2019 by Lionsgate, grossing $312 million worldwide, Netflix scooped up the sequels in a $400 million package deal.
Although Netflix has prioritized its streaming platform over theatrical, it gave “Glass Onion: Knives Out 2” a run in 696 theaters in 2022, together with the largest chains AMC, Regal and Cinemark. Although a lot smaller than a conventional theatrical opening (massive productions usually launch in 3,000 to 4,000 theaters), the film was estimated to gross $15 million in its first week.
Wake Up Lifeless Man” will open in choose theaters Nov. 26 for a two-week run earlier than it begins streaming on Dec. 12.
