After the success Death on the Nile received at the box office, Kenneth Branagh and 20th Century Studios are keen to follow it up with A Haunting in Venice, based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name. This will be the third Branagh-directed film adaptation of Christie’s books, which could probably put the wheels in motion for a potential cinematic universe.
Deadline reports that the film is set to star big names such as Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, and Michelle Yeoh, who is still spellbinding audiences in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Alongside his directing duties, Branagh will be reprising his role as Inspector Hercule Poirot, who he first played in 2017 in Murder on the Orient Express, before reprising in 2022’s Death on the Nile.
Branagh expressed excitement for A Haunting in Venice as this would give his character a fantastic opportunity for character development. At the same time, the film’s production would be an amazing opportunity to “deliver something truly spine-chilling” for their loyal audience.
“This is a fantastic development of the character Hercule Poirot, as well as the Agatha Christie franchise. Based on a complex, little known tale of mystery set at Halloween in a pictorially ravishing city, it is an amazing opportunity for us, as filmmakers, and we are relishing the chance to deliver something truly spine-chilling for our loyal movie audiences,”
Death on the Nile was released in 2022 and has earned more than $137 million at the box office. The film received an average score of 62 percent from critics and 82 percent from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a 2017 interview with the Associated Press, Branagh said he wanted to create a ‘cinematic universe’ for the Agatha Christie novels, saying that “it’s possible to connect” all her stories in multiple films. However, the idea didn’t sit well with 20th Century Fox at the time.
“I think there are possibilities, aren’t there? With 66 books and short stories and plays, she — and she often brings people together in her own books actually, so innately — she enjoyed that. You feel as though there is a world — just like with Dickens, there’s a complete world that she’s created — certain kinds of characters who live in her world — that I think has real possibilities.”
So far, Branagh has adapted two of Christie’s books into films. And while A Haunting in Venice does not have an official release date yet, suffice it to say that this may be the early start of the Agatha Christie cinematic universe.