The Mustache Lives Again: DEATH ON THE NILE Greenlit

Good news for people who dug Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (I did, and so did a lot of other people according to its robust box office): Death on the Nile will be the next Agatha Christie mystery we can expect to see on the silver screen. 

Definitely returning: screenwriter Michael Green, who did an excellent job adapting Orient Express (and who's also responsible for films like Logan and Blade Runner 2049). Probably returning? Director and star Branagh, "while there is no deal currently in place," according to THR. I'm not sweating that part too much. Branagh clearly had the time of his life playing Poirot and is likely eager to do so again.

Death on the Nile is one of my favorite Christie novels, and if we're going to see Branagh tackling it as he did Orient Express - shot on luxurious 65mm and filmed on location - it should make for a very, very pretty movie. As for the story? Well, see if this tickles your fancy: 

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.

In the past, Linnet Ridgeway's been played by Emily Blunt and Lois Chiles. Who should Branagh cast?