Gal Gadot’s ‘Death on the Nile’ tops a quiet box office weekend

Hollywood’s Super Bowl weekend largely fizzled, with the muted debut of Kenneth Branagh’s long-delayed Agatha Christie whodunit, “Death on the Nile,” a tepid reception for the Jennifer Lopez romantic-comedy, “Marry Me,” and modest box-office bumps for Oscar nominees.

“Death on the Nile,” Branagh’s follow-up to the 2017 hit “Murder on the Orient Express,” leads all films with $12.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates. Produced under 20th Century Fox before its acquisition by the Walt Disney Co., “Death on the Nile” was delayed by the pandemic and by scandal that engulfed one of its stars, Armie Hammer.

Last March, Hammer was put under investigation by Los Angeles police in a sexual assault. Hammer has denied the allegation.

After considering other avenues, reportedly including reshooting parts of the film without Hammer, Disney opted to release “Death on the Nile” as it was — albeit with less fanfare on a weekend the film industry often yields to football. The $90 million film, which also stars Gal Gadot, Emma McKay, and Branagh, reprising his role as detective Hercule Poirot, had once seemed a reliable money-maker.