‘Glass Onion’: Netflix’s Thanksgiving Release Feels Like A Trojan Horse

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will get a conventional theatrical release. The film will play in all three of the nation's biggest theater chains for a week in November.

It will play in other theaters around the world. The good news is that Glass Onion is getting at least a week of theatrical availability, a month before it opens on the streaming service. The good news is that it is happening on a busy weekend.

Glass Onion would have been seen as a salvation for theaters struggling amid a distributor-caused famine/slump. It would have been a high-profile offering had it opened in October or November. Had they opened it in the first two weeks of December, it would have been empty between the holiday weekend and the movie's release.

Is it also Thanksgiving? That is home to Disney's Strange World, Sony's Jonathan Majors/Glenn Powell Korean War fighter pilot drama Devotion, and Universal's Steven Spielberg film Bodies and All It seems like an attempt to undermine the films that studios are releasing.

The first Knives Out opened to over 40 million dollars on Thanksgiving weekend. There is a case to be made for multi-quadrant counterprogramming. It seems that the move is designed to hurt the non-streaming competition, with a big, A-level theatrical release playing only for a week as the actual movie theaters are releasing their crop of biggies.

Glass Onion will only play in around 600 theaters. It will get the most attention, the most media coverage and the most social media buzz. This is for a film that doesn't have much at stake in the theater.

It is good that Knives Out 2 is going to be a big deal on the streaming service. Knives Out was a critically acclaimed movie. Cinemark has been playingNetflix originals for brief theatrical engagements for the last few years.

In terms of the sheer amount of theatrical competition and the lack of competition for much of November and December, it seems like a power move. A Knives Out Mystery will play in theaters. It is the one week where it may be more harmful than beneficial.