According to Deadline, the Rian Johnson-directed film has earned an estimated $13 million in its first five days at the cinemas and is projected to gross $15 million at the end of its seven-day run. With its box office returns, Glass Onion is the third-highest-grossing film during the Thanksgiving holiday, behind Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with $65 million and Disney’s Strange World with $18.5 million. Given that Glass Onion was available in only 638 theaters in North America, its box office return is impressive, especially when compared with the fact that Wakanda Forever and Strange Worlds were released in about 4,000 theaters around the world. Before Glass Onion came along, Red Notice held the record for the highest-earning Netflix film with about $1 million. The film, which also had a limited theatrical release like Glass Onion, debuted in only 700 theaters in North America. Glass Onion has, however, outperformed this figure with its $13 million to become the highest-grossing Netflix film ever at the box office. According to sources, a few factors contribute to this record-breaking figure. One of these is its A-list cast, which includes Daniel Craig in the lead role, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. Another factor is that the original Knives Out was a theatrical success that earned $312.9 million from a $40 million budget. Hence, it had something it could build on. Given Glass Onion’s gross within its short release period, many people believe Netflix will let it remain in theaters for a longer period. However, the streaming giant only releases movies in cinemas for the primary reason of having them qualify for the Oscar Awards. Apart from Glass Onion, other Netflix films that have enjoyed limited theatrical releases are The Gray Man, Red Notice, Don’t Look Up, Bird Box, The Adam Project, and Extraction. Despite the limited box office earnings, these movies went on to become some of the most streamed Netflix projects. Red Notice takes the lead with 364 million hours and Don’t Look Up is a close second with 359 million hours. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is the sequel to 2019’s Knives Out. It follows the master detective Benoit Blanc as he attempts to solve the murder of Cassandra Andi Brand, the estranged former business partner of billionaire Miles Bron. Brand’s identical twin sister Helen hired Blanc to investigate her sister’s murder at a murder mystery party Bron hosted at his mansion, the Glass Onion, a week before the party. However, Duke, one of Bron’s guests, collapsed and died during the party, after drinking from Bron’s glass. Suddenly, Blanc and Helen had two murders to solve. Apart from Craig who reprises his role as Benoit Blanc, the film stars Norton, Monae, Hahn, Odom Jr., Hudson, Bautista, and Jessica Henwick as Miles Bron, Helen and Andi Brand, Claire DeBella, Lionel Toussaint, Birdie Jay, Duke Cody, and Peg respectively. Ethan Hawke and Hugh Grant made brief appearances as Bron’s assistant, Method Man and Philip, Blanc’s domestic partner respectively, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt voiced Bron’s clock, the Hourly Dong. Rian Johnson serves as producer and scriptwriter. He also produced the film alongside Ram Bergman. In other news, Netflix recently released a new trailer for its upcoming animated series Sonic Prime. Also, the streaming platform recently moved up the release date for the fourth installment of the Penn Badgley-led series titled You. Fans of the platform’s fantasy series, The Witcher, will also be glad to learn it has greenlit another spinoff, although there’s no release date at the moment. Glass Onion is currently showing in North American cinemas until Tuesday, November 29. Following this, the film will take a short break before it begins streaming on Netflix on December 23.
