Ranker Spotlight: Glass Onion

We look at the rankings and fans of the original Knives Out film to identify the audience Netflix will have to target as it promotes its upcoming sequel

After a one-week stint in theaters through the end of November, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be available to Netflix users everywhere starting December 23. This limited release, the widest release ever for a Netflix film, should give Netflix a strong sense of moviegoers' appetite for the follow-up to 2019’s sleeper hit whodunit. Because the original Knives Out was not a Netflix film, it makes sense the streamer would want to check the temperature of the audience for a film its analytics department likely has no proprietary data on. 

But there’s still plenty of information about Knives Out and its fan base that Netflix won’t get from this release as it prepares a marketing blitz for Glass Onion. What made Knives Out so appealing to viewers in 2019, and how can Netflix play to those expectations with its promotional campaigns? Which segments of its subscriber base — and which audiences outside of it — are worth spending ad dollars on to maximize views of Glass Onion come December 23? To answer these questions and more, we’re using Ranker Insights to explore the fan base of the original Knives Out film.

How Knives Out Ranks on Ranker

Rather than belonging to just one genre, Knives Out is a classic example of the whodunit mystery, a cerebral class of thriller the movie has helped to revive in recent years, while also featuring enough humor and self-awareness to be considered a comedy. That duality is on display in two of the movie’s most impressive list positions on Ranker: Knives Out is #1 on The Best Thriller Movies of 2019 (6K votes) and #2 on The Best Crime Comedy Movies, Ranked (5K votes). This Rian Johnson-directed hit may not be the only film to mix these genres, but it’s considered one of the best by our readers. That suggests Netflix should emphasize the witty dialogue and outlandish characters of Glass Onion as much as it does the dark murder mystery at its core. 

Similarly interesting is Knives Out’s #10 spot on the list of The Best Cerebral Crime Movies, Ranked (3K votes). It’s clear that part of the film’s appeal is its willingness to trust the intellect of its viewers, asking them to try and figure out the solution to the mystery before it’s finally revealed. To that end, Netflix might consider marketing campaigns that offer users bits and pieces of information about Glass Onion’s characters and their circumstances, inviting them to do a little advance detective work ahead of the film’s release. Such a campaign would also take advantage of the fact that the original movie is beloved for its use of a stacked ensemble cast, as evidenced by its #25 position on the list of The Best Ensemble Movies (27K votes).

What Do Knives Out Fans Love?

Hundreds of thousands of votes have been cast for Knives Out on some of Ranker’s most popular movie lists. What and who else do those fans vote for? Ranker Insights can tell us more about the likes and dislikes of those who love the 2019 mystery film, and therefore, the people most likely to check out its sequel.

Other Movies

The other movies beloved by Knives Out fans don’t tend toward older classics, but rather other contemporary movies that surprised the world with their massive success. Chief among them is Parasite, the South Korean crossover hit that surprised almost everyone (besides us, of course) by winning best picture at the 2020 Academy Awards. Fans of Knives Out are even more likely to love JoJo Rabbit, the Taika Waititi-directed dramedy also released in 2019. Other movies very likely to garner their interest are 2017’s Baby Driver, groundbreaking horror films Get Out and Midsommar, and creepy sci-fi thriller Annihilation. The connecting thread here is that Knives Out fans love cerebral and innovative movies, and Netflix should look for viewers like them to promote Glass Onion to.

TV

Like their taste in film, Knives Out fans have eclectic tastes when it comes to television. They’re equally as likely to love Disney+’s runaway Star Wars success The Mandalorian as they are to love the long-running sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Neither of these shows is licensed by Netflix, but Netflix can target fans of both series on Facebook, drawing Knives Out fans from the subscriber bases of other streamers to maximize views for Glass Onion. 

People

Since Netflix already bought the rights to produce a third Knives Out film, one that will presumably also rely on a large ensemble cast full of big names, it behooves the company to note which actors fans of the original movie love most. According to Ranker Insights, among those actors is Ian McKellen, the beloved Lord of the Rings actor who could be something of a stand-in for the late Christopher Plummer, who played a big role in the original Knives Out. Also statistically more likely to be beloved by this fan base is Matt Damon, whose love of surprise cameos might make him a good candidate for at least a small role in a third Knives Out mystery.

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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