Murder On the Orient Express has quietly become a massive success, netting over $300 million globally at the box office. So, of course a sequel (Death On the Nile) is already in the works, with star/director Kenneth Branagh looking to both don Hercule Poirot's mustache and step behind the camera again.
Only Branagh says he's not really content to stop at two movies. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Branagh states he's potentially looking to expand beyond Nile and into an Agatha Christie Cinematic Universe:
“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.”
He's not wrong, and with our current addiction to Intellectual Property, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine a world where a studio - especially Disney, which now owns 20th Century Fox, who produced Orient Express - greenlights an entire series of Christie productions.
No official talks have been held between Branagh and studio brass, but this feels like a seed being publicly planted. We'll keep you up to date if it actually sprouts into a full-fledged franchise, so you can take your aunt and/or grandma to their stories every holiday season.