We're Getting More Branagh Poirot!

Chris here. Has everyone caught up to Murder on the Orient Express yet? For yours truly, it was set exactly in the spot in Europe that Clueless said we might be "whelmed" and our Eric Blume felt the same. But that hasn't stopped audiences from turning it into a modest hit, resulting in a global take of over $150 million - and that's enough for Fox to officially kick off a mini-franchise.

The new Agatha Christie Poirot films are keeping in line with the adaptations of the 70s, so next up will be Death on the Nile - expect Evil Under the Sun afterwards should Nile be a success too. Branagh is expected to return as director and star, and Orient Express's screenwriter Michael Green will be back as well. Get ready for more CGI exotic locales and modes of transportation because this one is set on a steamboat in Egypt. John Guillermin's 1978 version was an Oscar winner for Costume Design (Angela Lansbury headresses!) so let's hope for repeat opulence there as well.

But most importantly it will feature another massive cast! The aforementioned screen adaptation featured Lansbury, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Mia Farrow, David Niven, and Peter Ustinov's Poirot to name a few. It wouldn't be too confusing to have Michelle Pfeifer return, would it? What famous faces do you want to see in Branagh's next ensemble mystery?

Hug it Out!

🔥 Look, it's Nicole and P!nk at the American Music Awards this weekend. We must forever express thanks to Keith Urban for insuring that Nicole Kidman didn't just show up at acting awards shows, but music awards shows, too. To celebrate this lovely hug a truly unecessary list.

10 P!nk Song Titles That Could Be Mistaken For Odes to Kidman

1. Fuckin' Perfect
2. Just Like Fire
3. Beautiful Trauma
4. Trouble
5. Glitter in the Air
6. Lady Marmalade
7. You Get My Love
8. M!ssundastood
9. Split Personality
10. Do What U Do

Beauty vs Beast: The Bigger Boys

Jason from MNPP here, ready to pop some peach champagne for the release of Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, which finally hits theaters in New York and LA on Friday. The thing is, although I personally have already seen the film six times (if you've been to MNPP at any point in the past three months you're more than aware of my obsession but if you missed my first take on the movie out of NYFF it's one of the most meaningful pieces of writing I've ever done, says me), it seems that some of you have not seen the film six times yet. Since it's not in theaters yet, and all. So I probably can't devote this week's "Beauty vs Beast" to it then!

So we'll do the next best and look back at Luca's last movie, A Bigger Splash. When ABS came out we polled you about the film it's based on, La Piscine, but I figure enough of you have seen Luca's version by now. I'm pretty certain where you guys will fall when forced into Tilda Swinton's glamourous shoes to choose between the two men in her life, solid wall of Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) and bearded blast of noise Harry (Ralph Fiennes), but I'm asking anyway...

PREVIOUSLY Oscar season is here but we devoted one last moment of silliness to Superhero Season by tackling Thor: Ragnarok's two actresses last week - Tessa Thomspon put up a valiant fight but... well, she was going against Cate Blanchett. Cate took 58% of your vote as bigger-than-Asgard-itself Hela; said chasm301:

"Do you really think that Cate Blanchett would lose a competition on this website? Her most gif-able performance outside of Carol (2015)"

The Furniture: Atomic Blonde's Neon Nihilism

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail. 

The design of Atomic Blonde is, well, cool. The colors are cool and the vibe is cool, in a very straightforward way. It’s nothing like the characters, who constantly double-cross each other. The twists and turns of this last-minute Cold War spy movie keep coming until its final moments. Everyone is suspicious, even if it’s not obvious.

Yet the landscape upon which Lorraine (Charlize Theron) and Percival (James McAvoy), the Brits, Americans, French, Russians, West Germans and East Germans play is remarkably uniform. Perhaps this is because the film, directed by David Leitch (John Wick) and written by Kurt Johnstad (300) sees them all as working the same game. It’s a bit like the moral landscape of Sicario, the nihilism of film noir without any of its grand mysteries. The question is no longer “What is evil?” but rather “Why are all these people who signed up for a violent and amoral profession behaving so violently and without morals?”

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Box Office: Justice League's Own Ragnarok

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Nov 17-19) UPDATED WITH ACTUALS
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1.🔺 Justice League  $94  REVIEW	1.🔺 Lady Bird $2.5 on 238 screens (cum. $4.6) REVIEW
2.🔺 Wonder $27.5	2.🔺 Three Billboards... $1.1 on 53 screens (cum. $1.5) REVIEW
3. Thor Ragnarok $21.6 (cum. $247.2) REVIEW, YOUR QUEEN	3. Loving Vincent $403k on  212 screens (cum. $4.6) REVIEW
4. Daddy's Home 2  $14.4 (cum. $50.2)	4. Let There Be Light $362k on 554 screens (cum. $6.7)
5. Murder on the Orient Express $13.8 (cum. $51.7) REVIEW	5. The Florida Project $299k on 217 screens (cum. $4.3)  REVIEW

Surprise! The feel good facial-differences movie Wonder in which Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson parent little Jacob Tremblay, was a big hit at the box office. It's Julia's best opening in 7 years, or her best opening in 16 years if you don't count the pictures that were sold largely on their all-star ensembles (like the Oceans pictures or Valentine's Day). Did any of you see it?

About the actual chart topper...

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