While you were anticipating and then arguing about “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” 20th Century Fox‘s glossy “Murder On The Orient Express” quietly went around the track at the worldwide box office to the tune of $311 million. Not too shabby for a movie that only cost $55 million, and the studio is clearly pleased as punch with Kenneth Branagh‘s efforts, with development on the sequel, “Death On The Nile,” already underway. So, could Hercule Poirot become the new Captain America? Why the hell not?
Speaking with Associated Press, Branagh mulled the idea of an Agatha Christie cinematic universe, noting that the source material has a wealth of characters and a world which could theoretically interconnect.
“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,” he said. “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.”
However, before you exasperatedly pop your monocle at yet another idea for a cinematic universe, Branagh cautions it’s not something he’s pitched to Fox, though he adds, “I bet they’ve been thinking about it though.”
The other thing to consider is now that Disney owns Fox, Hercule Poirot may not be blockbuster sized enough when compared to “Star Wars” and Marvel, for the mouse house to continue pursuing, at least as a regular, ongoing series. But, any chance at a new franchise, is something that executives will at least kick the tires on, regardless.