“DEATH on the Nile,” Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded movie, has locked down a release date on the Chinese mainland. The Disney and 20th Century film will open here Feb. 19, a little over a week after its U.S. release Feb. 11.

“Death on the Nile” was originally set to hit global cinemas in 2020, but it was pushed back numerous times due to the pandemic.

Like Branagh’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Death on the Nile” is a feature adaptation of a classic Agatha Christie novel featuring famed detective Hercule Poirot, played by Branagh. The latest flick’s talent-deep cast includes Gal Gadot, Tom Bateman, Letitia Wright, embattled actor Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo and Jennifer Saunders.

The movie charts the drama that unfolds when one of the passengers of the luxurious S.S. Karnak is found murdered. The trailer highlights Branagh’s Poirot and Gadot’s character, Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle. Hammer plays Simon Doyle, Linnet’s husband. Poirot and the two glamorous newlyweds are in for more than they bargained for as the trip unfolds. “When you have money, no one is really ever your friend,” Linnet tells Poirot in the trailer.

Meanwhile, Woody Allen’s 2019 movie, “A Rainy Day in New York,” has also received the green light for a Feb. 25 theatrical release on the Chinese mainland. Although a few of Allen’s films, such as “Midnight in Paris” and 2012’s “To Rome With Love,” have screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, “Rainy Day” will mark Allen’s first theatrical release on the Chinese mainland.

The Big Apple-set romantic comedy stars Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez and Jude Law. A young student couple, Gatsby (Chalamet) and Ashleigh (Fanning), head into New York as Ashleigh is interviewing a famous film director for her college newspaper. What follows is a series of chance meetings and misadventures that will sorely test their relationship.

“Rainy Day” wrapped in the summer of 2018, but its planned release that year was pushed back as Allen kicked up controversy with his comments on the Harvey Weinstein case and molestation allegations. After Amazon shelved the project and pulled out of a four-picture deal with the director, Allen filed a US$68 million breach of contract suit against the company in 2019, which ended in a settlement and the film’s distribution rights returned to the director.

Even after that, the film never received a wide release in the United States, opening quietly on a few screens before moving quickly to streaming. The US$24 million-budgeted film has grossed US$22 million so far from overseas markets in Europe, South America, and Asia, starting with Poland in July 2019.(SD-Agencies)