Holiday movie preview: 11 burning questions about Avatar, Wakanda, Whitney Houston, Will Smith, and much more

was a runaway sensation for Lionsgate, and a remarkable flashpoint of smart, crowd-pleasing, adult entertainment that feels more vital than ever as one of the last films to crack the zeitgeist right before the COVID pandemic shut down movie theaters—and goers—for a few years. Can its sequel recapture that energy, or even build upon it? Taking place during the fraught months in which most people were afraid to leave their homes, Rian Johnson’s new mystery, , focuses on a potentially even more loathsome group of people than the Thrombeys. This time out the film focuses on a bunch of one-percenters with the resources to jet off to a Mediterranean island owned by an eccentric billionaire. Whether that makes you more or less interested in this follow-up, one can likely expect just as many delightful twists and turns as the last time, along with a commentary that’s exactly as incisive as it is subtle. It’s impossible to know if Netflix’s $469 million check for two sequels will be money well spent, commercially speaking, but with Johnson at the helm, and Daniel Craig back on screen as Benoit Blanc, viewers can bank on being entertained, at the very least. [Todd Gilchrist]