Following the remarkable success of Netflix's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery on its limited theatrical release, its director and creator Rian Johnson has been speaking about his desire to see the film return to the big screen on the film starts streaming on Netflix in three weeks' time. The sequel to the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Knives Out saw Daniel Craig return to the role of the flamboyant, Southern, celebrity detective Benoit Blanc, tasked with assisting in a murder mystery weekend that goes wrong.

Johnson revealed he's been in discussions with the streaming giant following the limited run over Thanksgiving which saw the movie bring in a reported $15 million. Glass Onion was the widest film release by Netflix for an original movie, with its one week run seeing the film released on roughly 600 screens, playing at the three biggest movie chains in the country: AMC, Regal and Cinemark, in a first for Netflix. Speaking with Insider, Johnson said:

Any theaters we can get it into at any point I'm pushing for. I want more people to have the opportunity to be able to watch it. Once it's on the service it will be available to theaters and we're exploring what form that can take. I'll take as much as I can possibly get. But a lot of that has to do with what the theaters are willing to do, what makes sense. We were very interested in how it did. We wanted it to do incredibly well for a lot of reasons. I guess for me, because I really want to show that this can happen and this can be a huge success. And that when it hits the service, people will still turn up and it will be huge on the service. That those two things can complement each other. Because I want more next time. I want more theaters. I want it for longer. The fact that Netflix did this is amazing. The fact that they did the effort, and the theater chains, to make this week happen the way it did, they were fantastic partners.

Kathryn Hahn in Glass Onion a Knives Out Mystery
Image via Netflix

RELATED: 'Glass Onion' On Track To Earn an Estimated $15 Million During Its One-Week Limited Run

Knives Out was a surprise hit upon release in late 2019, earning $27 million in its opening weekend, and grossing $165 million in the US and $312 million globally. Following its success, Netflix paid a reported $450 million for the rights to produce and distribute two sequels, with both Johnson and Craig contracted to return for both.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings admitted that "lots" of money was left on the table by not giving Glass Onion a wide release. "It's a promotional tactic like film festivals, and if it works well we will do more of it," he said. "We are not trying to build a theatrical business, we are trying to break through the noise."

Glass Onion streams on Netflix from December 23. It also stars Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista, and Kate Hudson. You can check out the trailer below.