That’s the premise for Rian Johnson’s latest film “Knives Out.” The flick, which has been billed as a comedic whodunit, has been warmly received by critics ahead of its Wednesday release. “Knives Out” currently holds a 96% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with many praising the films’ use of old murder-mystery tropes, its suspenseful storytelling and its stellar ensemble. Analysts currently project the film to make around $20 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, once it reaches 3,30

More than a third of shoppers are planning to buy restaurant gift cards this holiday season, an NRF survey found. Restaurant chains are offering extra incentives, like freebies or discounts, to convince consumers to buy their gift cards. Here’s where to find deals on restaurant gift cards and discounted food and drinks on Black Friday:Applebee’s: From Black Friday to Cyber Monday, Applebee’s customers who buy a $50 gift card will receive two bonus $10 gift cards. In Northern California and Texas

Wall Street searches for direction following Monday’s rally53 Mins AgoU.S. stock index futures were flat Tuesday morning as investors take to heart suggestions of a thaw in trade talks with China and a wave of merger activity. CNBC’s Frank Holland reports.

Riccardo Zacconi is the multimillionaire co-founder and former CEO of gaming business King, the company that was sold to Activision Blizzard for $5.9 billion in 2016. But in the early days, King struggled after Facebook first opened up to games developers, Zacconi told CNBC’s “The Brave Ones.” “2009 is the year when (King rival) Zynga launched a game, which became incredibly popular, called ‘Farmville’. The company launched “Candy Crush” on Facebook in 2012, a game designed by King co-founder Se

Russia hopes to seal a deal to supply Turkey with more S-400 missile systems in the first half of next year, the head of Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, said in an interview with RIA news agency published on Tuesday. A senior U.S. State Department official said last week that Turkey needed to get rid of the S-400s it had already bought to mend fences. “We hope that in the first half of 2020 we will sign the contract documents,” RIA cited Mikheev as saying. “But I

Streaming giant Netflix has taken over the lease of New York movie theater The Paris, after the venue closed its doors in August. Netflix screened its movie “Marriage Story” at The Paris earlier this month, and on Monday announced a lease agreement to keep the theater open. It will use the theater for special events, screenings and theatrical releases of its film, the company said in an online statement. The Paris was opened in 1948 in a ceremony where Marlene Dietrich cut the ribbon, and origin

De La Rue warned of “significant doubt” that it can continue as a going concern on Tuesday, knocking around 40 million pounds off the market value of the British banknote printer, which scrapped its dividend to tackle mounting debts. The warning by De La Rue follows a series of setbacks, including two profit warnings, an investigation into suspected corruption in South Sudan and the loss of a 400 million pound contract for Britain’s new passports. De La Rue, which produces passports for 40 count

Bossa Studios, the video game developer behind zany titles like “Surgeon Simulator” and “I Am Bread,” has raised up to $30 million in an investment round led by Chinese gaming company NetEase, three sources familiar with the matter told CNBC. The U.K.-based publisher secured between $10 million and $30 million in a Series B funding round over the summer, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the details haven’t been made public. NetEase confirmed that it was a shareholder in B

Faced with weak economic growth, deteriorating debt situation and major headwinds for state-owned enterprises, both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and S&P Global Ratings have called on South Africa to enact urgent economic reforms. Economic growth is set to remain below population growth for the sixth consecutive year in 2020. South Africa’s “undeniable economic potential” remains mostly untapped, and the economy faces three immediate hurdles, the report by IMF mission lead Ana Lucia Coro

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk gestures while introducing the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. Tesla’s futuristic pickup truck appears set to go head-to-head against the Ford F-150 in an “apples to apples” tug-of-war battle. The anticipated showdown, which could take place as early as next week, comes shortly after Tesla unveiled its all-electric Cybertruck. Sundeep Madra, vice president at Ford

Taiwan is investigating two executives at a Hong Kong-listed company on suspicion of violating the country’s National Security Act, prosecutors said on Tuesday, after they were named in a report about Chinese meddling. The allegations were made by a Chinese asylum seeker in Australia, Wang Liqiang, who said he was a Chinese spy. Wang said he was part of an intelligence operation working within China Innovation Investment to infiltrate Hong Kong universities and media with pro-Communist Party ope

The Residenzschloss palace that houses the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) collection of treasures on November 25, 2019 in Dresden, Germany. Thieves smashed display cases and grabbed priceless jewels from an eastern German museum in the early hours of Monday in a lightning raid on one of Europe’s greatest collections of treasures, police said. They forced their way into Dresden’s Gruenes Gewoelbe, or Green Vault Museum and got away with at least three sets of early 18th century jewelry, including

Ordinarily, communications between Beijing and Hong Kong are conducted through a Chinese government body: the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong. The State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Liaison Office in Hong Kong did not reply to faxed requests for comment. The mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images”The Hon

European markets traded slightly lower on Tuesday morning, despite optimism over progress in the U.S.-China trade dispute. The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.1% below the flatline in early trade, with travel and leisure stocks dropping 2.5% as most sectors and major bourses edged into negative territory. Trade negotiators from Washington and Beijing held another phone call Tuesday morning, where the two sides discussed “resolving core issues,” according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The

Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw a strong debut in Hong Kong on Tuesday, after pricing its shares at 176 Hong Kong dollars (approx. One analyst told CNBC on Tuesday that Alibaba’s Hong Kong listing so far has been “pretty successful.” Alibaba’s secondary listing in Hong Kong became the world’s largest offering so far in 2019 — larger than the roughly $8 billion raised by Uber in May. During this time of ongoing change, we continue to believe that the future of Hong Kong remains bri

U.S. government debt prices were higher Tuesday morning, amid renewed hopes of a limited trade deal between the world’s two largest economies. ET, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, was lower at around 1.7620%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also lower at around 2.2041%. Market focus is largely attuned to global trade developments after China’s Ministry of Commerce said the leaders of U.S.-China trade talks held another phone call on Tuesday mo

U.S. and Chinese national flags fly outside a company building in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Shanghai, China, on Oct. 22, 2013. Tomohiro Ohsumi | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWhile China has embraced next generation networks at a faster pace, experts say the U.S. still has some advantages in the competition for dominance. China rolled out its 5G networks nationwide on Nov. 1, with three of its state-owned carriers offering plans for the service. While 6G refers to the next generati

SINGAPORE — U.S. companies aren’t likely to pack up their manufacturing operations in China and move them back home amid the trade war between Washington and Beijing, according to a prominent economist. That’s because supply chains are “very difficult to put together, and equally difficult to disentangle,” said Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University. Still, several American firms have made plans to diversify their production beyond China since the trade war started last year. But few

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump at the G-20 Summit in Osaka on June 29, 2019. The leaders of the U.S.-China trade negotiations held another phone call on Tuesday morning, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement. Liu He, China’s top negotiator on trade, spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the statement said. Xi also said China holds a “positive attitude” toward the trade talks, the report said. Pres

U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher Tuesday morning. ET, Dow futures rose 20 points, indicating a positive open of more than 14 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were both seen marginally higher. On the data front, advanced economic indicators for October and the Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing index for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. The latest monthly Richmond Fed survey and Dallas Fed services data will be published at around 10:00 a.m.