Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Fox, Movies | Tagged: 20 century studios, death on the nile, fox, free guy, movies, murder on the orient express, planet of the apes

Updates On Free Guy 2, Planet of the Apes, and a Third Poirot Film

20th Century Studios is entering a new era, and it's going to be an interesting one. The studio's future has been pretty unclear when the 2019 sale went through, and then COVID really put a pin in everything. There have been some real success stories coming out of the studio in 2021 and heading into 2022, but what kind of future this studio has isn't exactly looking promising. According to a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter with 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell, he revealed that the studio will be releasing two to three theatrical releases a year, and the rest will be on streaming. It seems like a rather sad ending to the late 20th Century Fox, and those movies that will be seeing the big screen releases are ones that are established IPs. Some of those established IPs have been around the block a few times, and others that are new. One of the new ones that was a bright spot in summer 2021 is Free Guy. We already knew that a sequel was on the way, and Asbell confirmed that the script is days away.

We're awaiting a script that is days away. It's a fantastic story.

Free Guy isn't the only movie that is close to having a script. Asbell also confirmed the draft for the new Planet of the Apes film as well.

We are expecting a draft very shortly, and it's Wes Ball attached to direct. We hope to go by the late summer, early fall.

Death on the Nile finally made its way to the big screen after a bunch of delays and, let's say, issues concerning its cast that made it very hard to promote the movie last month. It sounds like, despite the fact that the film isn't doing great at the box office, it's made just over $102M worldwide. The studio is interested in making more Agatha Christie adaptations with Kenneth Branagh both in front of and behind the screen.

We have the Poirot franchise, we have other Christie stories. I love these films, I love Ken [Branagh, who plays detective Hercule Poirot and directed Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile]. We have a third script written, by Michael Green, that is a pretty daring shift in genre and in tone. It's post-war Venice and an adaptation of one of the lesser-known novels. So I think you'll see the mustache again.

This is good news for fans of the series like our TV editor here at Bleeding Cool Ray Flook, and maybe this time they'll be able to get this movie off of the ground without major delays or casting issues causing it to get pushed back for so many years. Asbell confirmed that Branagh "is Poirot, but Ken is also the series," so it sounds like there won't be any significant changes should a third movie happen. This one sounds a bit more up in the air than the other two despite the fact that they have a script, so we'll have to see what happens in the long run. 

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