20th Century Studios has announced that production will begin next month on "A Haunting in Venice," an unsettling supernatural-thriller inspired by Agatha Christie's novel "Hallowe'en Party".
The film, which is directed by Oscar® winner Kenneth Branagh ("Belfast") and features a screenplay by Oscar nominee Michael Green ("Logan"), will shoot at Pinewood Studios outside London and on location in Venice. A brilliant acting ensemble portraying a cast of unforgettable characters will be featured, including Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen ("Rosaline"), Camille Cottin ("Call My Agent"), Jamie Dornan ("Belfast"), Tina Fey ("30 Rock"), Jude Hill ("Belfast"), Ali Khan ("6 Underground"), Emma Laird ("Mayor of Kingstown"), Kelly Reilly ("Yellowstone"), Riccardo Scamarico ("Caravaggio's Shadow"), and Michelle Yeoh ("Everything Everywhere All at Once"). "A Haunting in Venice" will open in theaters nationwide in 2023.
The film is set in post-World War II Venice on All Hallows' Eve, and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world's most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.
"This is a fantastic development of the character Hercule Poirot, as well as the Agatha Christie franchise. Based on a complex, little known tale of mystery set at Halloween in a pictorially ravishing city, it is an amazing opportunity for us, as filmmakers, and we are relishing the chance to deliver something truly spine-chilling for our loyal movie audiences," said Kenneth Branagh.
Steve Asbell, president 20th Century Studios, says, "We are enormously privileged to continue our long collaboration with the incomparable Sir Kenneth Branagh and couldn't be more excited by the bold new creative direction Ken, Michael, and the rest of the filmmaking team have taken with this latest film. We also remain grateful to James Prichard and the rest of our friends at Agatha Christie, Ltd., for their partnership and for once again entrusting us with, as Poirot modestly calls himself, ‘probably the greatest detective in the world.'"
This will be the studio's third film based on a novel by Christie, after 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" and 2022's "Death on the Nile".
