As suggested by the Murder on the Orient Express post-credits sequence, when Miss Marple emerged from the shadows to say, “Monsieur Poirot, I’m here to talk to you about the Agatha Initiative,” 20th Century Fox is expanding their Agatha Christie Cinematic Universe. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has already given the greenlight to a follow-up adaptation of another of Christie’s Poirot mysteries: Death on the Nile. Orient Express screenwriter Michael Green is returning to pen the script, and director-star Kenneth Branagh and absurd, glued-on lip-tickler are expected to likewise reprise their roles.
Like Branagh and Green’s recent effort, Death on the Nile was already successfully adapted in the ’70s, then with John Guillermin directing a top-tier cast that included Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, and David Niven, with Peter Ustinov starring as the famed inspector. Ustinov didn’t have an absolutely massive mustache with a gross little soul patch, though. Thanks for going ahead and fixing that, Kenneth Branagh.
