Death on the Nile and addressing racism in Agatha Christie
In modern Hollywood, amid all the hot intellectual properties, from Marvel superheroes to Mattel toys, the lucrative potential of one British author stands out: murder-mystery queen Agatha Christie. In 2017, Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of one of her most celebrated novels, Murder on the Orient Express, in which he also starred as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, hit big at the box office, grossing more than $350 million worldwide on a budget of $55 million. Now, five years later, and after many Covid-related delays, comes his take on another Poirot novel, Death on the Nile, released in cinemas last week. The appeal of these films? Well, that may be obvious: the chance to see ensembles packed with A-listers waltzing about in glamorous locations in service of a gripping plot.