Murder mysteries and whodunits are in ruder health than they’ve been for decades, although the evidence is beginning to pile up that the genre is a lot more popular on streaming than it is in theaters following the disappointing box office debut of A Haunting in Venice.
Despite being the best-reviewed installment in star and director Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot franchise by far, it couldn’t even top the second-worst weekend of the year domestically, with The Nun II edging out the Agatha Christie adaptation to retain the top spot once again.
What’s even more concerning is that A Haunting in Venice‘s $14.5 million bow isn’t all that far ahead of Death on the Nile‘s $12.9 million take, and its predecessor arrived when the industry was still recovering from the lingering effects of the pandemic, never mind the fact half of its ensemble had been variously canceled by the internet in the meantime.
Unless it shows incredible legs, then it might be time to say goodbye to the mustachioed genius for a while, which means that wishful thinking doesn’t even begin to cover Christie’s great-grandson James Prichard opining to Inverse that there’s still up to 30 more tales to be potentially brought to the screen.
“I’m not sure I would use the term cinematic universe. I would love to make more of these movies. I enjoy the process. I think a Hollywood movie brings you to an audience that you can’t get any other way. There’s a scale to them and a beauty to them, which is second to none. So if this movie is successful and Ken wants to make more and 20th Century wants to make more, I would be very surprised if we didn’t. There are plenty more stories. My great-grandmother wrote 33 full-length Poirot novels. There’s plenty of material to choose from.”
Admirable optimism without a doubt, but based on the dwindling returns, even a fourth installment might be pushing it.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
