Netflix seems to have handed Rian Johnson a blank cheque: Knives Out 3 budget claimed to be $210 million

The first Knives Out film was a huge success, both critically and commercially, with the latter no doubt partially being attributed to its “cheap” budget of “only” around $40 million. That might seem like a lot of money, but when the film brings together a stacked cast including the likes of Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more, $40 million sounds like a bit of a bargain.

The upcoming third film in the series, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a very different beast. According to the usually trustworthy insider TheInSneider, this movie has clocked in with a monster budget of $210 million. That’s a similar budget to what Marvel and other tentpole action flicks often draw in, with many of these regarded as too expensive to make in the first place.

It’s unclear how the film has amassed such a monumental budget, as while it does feature an impressive cast too, with Craig returning and being bolstered by Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, and more, these cast members shouldn’t see the budget balloon in such a manner.

Granted, as Knives Out 3 will be coming to Netflix in 2025, it likely won’t amass the marketing budget of a theatrical film, which tends to mirror the production budget meaning for a theatrical film to break even it needs to at least double its production costs. That being said, Knives Out 3 will no doubt need to be a rampant success to be able to justify its ridiculous budget.