Hercule Poirot’s investigative tactics may not have been particularly enjoyable for the passengers on board the Orient Express, but they’ve certainly made plenty of people at Fox happy. Murder On The Orient Express has been out less than two weeks, but has already grossed a worldwide total of more than $148 million from a moderate budget of $55 million.
As studios are wont to to when they see the money flowing in, Fox is pouncing and greenlighting another Hercule Poirot adaptation. The studio will reportedly adapt Agatha Christie‘s Death On The Nile next, the 1937 novel that finds Poirot tasked with solving another murder, this time while on vacation in Egypt.
Kenneth Branagh is expected to return as both star and director, while screenwriter Michael Green, after having a superb 2017 in which he worked on this, Blade Runner 2049 and Logan, will return to pen the script for the sequel.
Death On The Nile is one of Christie’s most beloved novels, and was previously adapted into a film in 1978 where it starred Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Maggie Smith, David Niven and Peter Ustinov as Inspector Poirot.
The synopsis for the novel is as follows:
“The tranquility of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything…until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.’ Yet in this exotic setting nothing is ever quite what it seems”.
Murder On The Orient Express has proven to be a surprise hit both critically and financially, and knowing Hollywood, this could be the start of something like the Hercule Poirot cinematic universe. But Branagh seems to be the right man for the job, both in front and behind the camera, so as long as he’s on board, this “franchise” is in good hands.
#Peace.Love.DeathOnTheNile
