It’s no accident that “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” was the Netflix film that finally got AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas onboard for a one-week limited theatrical engagement — breaking a years-long standoff between the streamer and the nation’s two largest movie theater chains.
And both sides stand to gain from the experiment. Netflix, which paid director Rian Johnson and producing partner Ram Bergman $469 million to make two sequels to his hit 2019 mystery starring Daniel Craig, will get the exposure that comes from a big-screen release; while exhibitors, reeling from post-shutdown financial woes, will get a starry, well-reviewed mystery film in a year in which A-list studio fare has been in short supply.