
Phyllida Law, far right, with Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Beckinsale and others in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (1993)
Samuel Goldwyn Films/Everett Collection
After starring in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, Jack Reynor has found his next horror vehicle in Seasons, Drew Hancock’s film for Amazon MGM Studios, where he’ll star opposite Lily James, Deadline can confirm.
Fka My Wife and I Bought a Ranch, Seasons is based on a viral horror short story by Matt & Harrison Query, which first appeared on Reddit and was later adapted into a full-length novel. It’s the story of a husband and wife who buy their dream ranch, only to discover the land is alive with ancient spirits. For the couple, survival will mean submitting to increasingly disturbing rituals with each turn of the season.
Pic marks Hancock’s follow-up to New Line’s Companion, as well as the third collaboration between 21 Laps and Blumhouse Atomic Monster, on the heels of the top-grossing A24 horror Backrooms.
Hancock directs from his own script, with 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Levine producing alongside Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear, 12:01 Films’ Scott Glassgold, and Dan Cohen. Judson Scott is exec producing for Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with Alayna Glasthal overseeing for the company.
An American-born Irish actor known for films like Sing Street and Ari Aster’s horror flick Midsommar, Reynor has also recently been seen starring alongside Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas in Power Ballad, John Carney’s musical comedy for Lionsgate. Next up, he’ll be seen starring in the second season of Apple’s hit legal thriller Presumed Innocent, opposite Rachel Brosnahan. Also on the way is a remake of yakuza film A Colt Is My Passport from Amazon MGM’s Orion Pictures, which has wrapped production.
THR was first to Reynor’s casting in Seasons.
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EXCLUSIVE: And the records just keep on comin’.
Sony/Marvel Studio’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to be rare air at the domestic box office, crossing the $800M mark later today, and becoming the fastest movie ever to that number. The Destin Daniel Cretton directed movie pulls off this feat in a record 19 days, which beats the previous fastest pic to $800M, 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which crossed in 23 days per Box Office Mojo.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day becomes the fourth movie to cross $800M, and the second ever for Zendaya, and the third for Tom Holland. The previous three movies to cross $800M at the B.O. are Star Wars: Force Awakens (final domestic $936.6M), Avengers: Endgame (crossed in 32 days; final domestic $858.3M, co-starred Holland) and Holland-Zendaya’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (crossed in 100 days; final domestic $804.7M).
Brand New Day‘s third Tuesday is expected to be around $9M per sources. The pic has around $4.5M in raw gross right now in Rentrak, so that daily outlook makes sense. Through yesterday, Brand New Day counted a running cume of $794M after a $7.5M Monday.
Force Awakens is the only movie to cross $900M and did so in 50 days.
This weekend despite the onslaught of Sony/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s own Insidious: Out the Further ($23M-$27M forecasted opening), Vertical’s The Magic Faraway Tree and Lionsgate’s Jason Statham title Mutiny, Brand New Day will definitely lead the weekend in its fourth frame with an estimated -50% hold or $35M.
The best fourth weekend at the domestic B.O. for a movie belongs to Warner Bros’ American Sniper at $89.3M, however, that’s because that pic went wide in its fourth sesh after a limited release. After American Sniper, Avatar has the next best fourth weekend at the B.O. with $50.3M.
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Phyllida Law, a TV, film and stage actor with more than 140 credits spanning 60-plus years who was the mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson, has died. She was 94.
Her personal manager Jacky Leggo confirmed the news in a statement, saying she “died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all her family” on July 27, but did not provide a cause or place of death.
Born on July 6, 1932, in Glasgow, Scotland, Law studied at Bristol Old Vic Theatre school in the 1950s and appeared in several of its stage productions. There she met fellow actor Eric Thompson, whom she would marry in 1957. Their two daughters are two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson and SAG Award winner and multi-Olivier Award nominee Sophie Thompson (Gosford Park).
Law began landing roles on British television in the late 1950s, guesting on such shows as The Lost King, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook and Dixon of Dock Green. She continued working mostly in theater and TV through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s — guest-starring on dozens of series and telefilms — before co-starring opposite Helen Shaver, Lauren Bacall and Malcolm Stoddard in the 1989 feature Innocent Victim aka Tree of Hands.
Along the way was starred onstage with Alec Guinness in 1971’s A Voyage Round My Father in London and played Jacqueline in the original West End cast of La Cage aux Folles in 1986, among other stage productions.

Phyllida Law, far right, with Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Beckinsale and others in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (1993)
Samuel Goldwyn Films/Everett Collection
In 1992, Law appeared alongside daughter Emma Thompson and others in Peter’s Friends, directed by and co-starring Thompson’s then-husband Kenneth Branagh. The following year, Law again teamed with her daughter in Branagh’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, playing Ursula. She would co-star along with daughter Sarah in the 1996 feature Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. A year later, she again teamed with Emma for a star turn as Elspeth in mother-daughter drama The Winter Guest. The pic from first-time director Alan Rickman won several awards including three at the Venice Film Festival.
Law continued to work regularly through the 2010s, playing Mrs. Watchit in 2002’s The Time Machine starring Guy Pearce and appearing in such features as Albert Nobbs (2011), Miss Potter (2006) and The Waiting Room (2007). She also guested on numerous TV shows after the turn of the century.
Law was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2014.
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EXCLUSIVE: DOC NYC has announced a distinguished group of honorees for its upcoming 13th edition, set to unspool in New York this November.
The annual Visionaries Tribute, to be held on the festival’s opening day at Gotham Hall in Manhattan, will see Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and filmmaker-sound recordist JT Takagi honored with Lifetime Achievement awards.
Gibney, director of a highly anticipated film about Elon Musk that will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, has long been recognized as one of the nonfiction film industry’s leading figures. His numerous credits include the Academy Award-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Primetime Emmy-winning Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief, and Primetime Emmy winner Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. At Sundance earlier this year, Gibney premiered his documentary Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie.
Takagi serves as executive director of Third World Newsreel, a progressive alternative media center, and teaches at The New School and City University of NY. Her filmmaking credits include Bittersweet Survival; Homes Apart: Korea; The Women Outside, and North Korea: Beyond the DMZ. “As a sound engineer, she has recorded numerous public television and theatrical documentaries that have earned Emmy and Cinema Audio Society awards,” notes a release, “including Yance Ford’s Strong Island and Stanley Nelson’s Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.”
At the Visionaries Tribute, DOC NYC will honor Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stephen Maing with the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence, named for the pioneering husband-and-wife filmmaking team. The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize furnished by Drew Associates.
Jill Drew, general manager of Drew Associates, said, “Observational documentary demands patience, perseverance, and precision planning. Stephen Maing has proven to be a master of the form. He is also a filmmaker for our times, focusing on characters who confront oppressive power structures. He has a gift not only for wielding a camera, but also for using it as a tool of empathy.”
Maing’s most recent film, The Great Experiment, which he directed with Eric Daniel Metzgar, premiered in March at the True/False festival in Columbia, MO. His previous films include Union, directed with Brett Story; Crime + Punishment; High Tech, Low Life, and The Surrender.
Oscar winner Raney Aronson-Rath (20 Days in Mariupol) will receive DOC NYC’s Leading Light Award, which honors “an individual making a critical contribution to documentary in a role other than as a filmmaker.”
Aronson-Rath serves as editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, the PBS flagship investigative journalism documentary series. She also leads the GBH Documentary Unit, which encompasses Frontline, Nova, and American Experience. Among her recent credits is the Sundance award-winning documentary One in a Million, which Aronson-Rath executive produced.
“The Visionaries Tribute is an annual reminder of the breadth and depth of talent in our field,” commented DOC NYC co-founder and Director of Special Projects Thom Powers, who oversees the Visionaries event. “This year’s honorees exemplify a spirit of truth-telling against the odds. Alex Gibney has made several of the most attention-getting documentaries of the 21st Century. JT Takagi has a remarkable career as both a sound recordist and leader of Third World Newsreel. Stephen Maing has upheld a standard of excellence in observational filmmaking through his works. And Raney Aronson-Rath has led PBS’s Frontline to excel despite deep funding cuts to public television.”

DOC NYC
DOC NYC’s competitive sections, as well as features and shorts named to its prestigious Short List section, and other news will be announced in the coming weeks. The festival takes place both in person and online: in-person events run from November 11-19 in New York City at IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika. The festival’s online presentations extend through November 29, with online screenings available to viewers across the U.S.
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