Even days ahead of its China premiere, the highly-anticipated film has scored a stellar 8.6 out of 10 on Douban, China's answer to IMDB.

So much anticipation, discussion, and praise has been heaped on Knives Out on China's social media that it is tempting to believe it will be a great box office success before year-end.

"The film grabbed my attention because it won rave reviews at this year's Toronto International Film Festival held in September," wrote Xu Ruofeng, a Douban user.

"Director Rian Johnson is surely a master of this genre. It strikes me as a successful commercial thriller with a well-orchestrated plot and fine characterization," commented another Douban user in September.

"I'm a huge aficionado of detective stories. Despite that I've read hundreds of such stories, I was also surprised and blown away by this film. I dare say it will be one of the Top 5 theatrical releases of 2019," read another comment on the site.

Yang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.