According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Last Kingdom and Pieces of Her finished in a virtual tie on the streaming series chart for March 7-13. Amazon’s Prime Video also had three entries in the top 10 original shows for the first time in the 19 months of Nielsen’s weekly rankings. British period drama The Last Kingdom accumulated 1.423 billion minutes of viewing time for the week, just beating out Pieces of Her (1.415 billion) for the lead among original series. (Pixar’s movie Turning Red on Disney+ was the top overall title with 1.7 billion minutes.) The Last Kingdom’s final season debuted March 9, while Pieces of Her showed substantial growth in its first full week after its March 4 premiere. Pieces of Her, starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, had a larger average audience as it racked up its time over just eight episodes, while The Last Kingdom has 46 over its five seasons (Nielsen tallies viewing from all episodes of a series in its streaming charts). Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently only include Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.

Great news according to Variety: Toni Collette has been cast in “Mafia Mamma,” an action comedy about a suburban mom who unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s Mafia empire. Catherine Hardwicke, the filmmaker of “Twilight” and “Thirteen,” is directing the movie, which is expected to begin production in Italy in late spring 2022. Debbie Jhoon and J. Michael Feldman (Peacock’s “Ap Bio,” Hulu’s “Deadbeat”) wrote the screenplay. The cast also includes Monica Bellucci and Rob Huebel. In “Mafia Mamma,” Collette channels her comedic roots as Kristen, a mom who unwittingly finds herself as the new boss of the fiercest Mafia family in Southern Italy. The logline reads: “Kristin is facing a slew of challenges. Her only son is desperate to leave for college, her boss is a sexist pig, and she just caught her unsuccessful, musician husband (Huebel) cheating with a groupie. That’s when she receives a life changing phone call from Bianca (Bellucci), her estranged grandfather’s trusted consigliere, telling her he is dead and she must attend the funeral in Italy. Egged on by Jenny, her outspoken best friend and lawyer, Kristin is persuaded this is exactly what she needs — a free trip to Europe full of pasta, wine, and beautiful men. The trip gets off to a perfect start but when her grandfather’s funeral explodes into a bloody gunfight, she finally learns the truth. Kristin isn’t just there to meet the family, she is there to be the new boss of the fiercest Mafia family in Calabria.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to make this film with Catherine and the team,” Collette said in a statement. “It is pure, fish out of water fun with a firm feminist backbone. I think we could all handle an uplifting, laugh out loud story like this right about now. Bring it on Italy!” The project reunites Hardwicke and Collette, who previously worked together on the emotional comedy “Miss You Already” starring Drew Barrymore. “Toni is one of the most versatile actresses on the planet — she can be intensely emotional, super-sexy and LOL hilarious,” Hardwicke said in a statement. “She’s going to dazzle as Kristin. And I personally relate to this woman who has to tap into her inner warrior and earn the respect of a bunch of men — especially after working in the film business. This story is empowering in the most fun way!”

According to Variety, Parker Posey will star alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche and Rosemarie DeWitt in the HBO Max limited series “The Staircase.” The eight-parter is based on the docuseries of the same name and various books and reports on the Michael Peterson (Firth) case. Peterson was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001. He claimed she died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to look like an accident. An autopsy revealed that Kathleen died from blows to the back of her head with a blunt object and other injuries. The docuseries was originally released in 2004, with creator Jean-Xavier de Lestrade updating with new information years later. Netflix released it as a 13-episode series in 2018. Posey will play Freda Black, an assistant district attorney and prosecutor – which might be one of the juciest part of the series, in case you have seen the documentary. DeWitt will play Peterson’s sister, Candace Zamperini. Details about Binoche’s character have yet to be revealed.

Toni Collette’s upcoming film “Dream Horse” will celebrate its world-premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. A premiere date has not been set yet. The full list of films can be found over at their official website. Toni has a long and successful history with the festival – from attending the premiere of “Clockwatchers” in 1997 to building Oscar buzz in 2006 with “Little Miss Sunshine” and presenting the (still) little-seen “Glassland” in 2015.

Dream Horse / United Kingdom (Director: Euros Lyn, Screenwriter: Neil McKay, Producers: Katherine Butler, Tracy O’Riordan) — Jan, a cleaner and bartender, decides on a whim to breed a race horse in her Welsh village. As the horse rises through the ranks against all odds, Jan and the townspeople are pitted against the racing elite in a nail-biting race for the national championship. Cast: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis. World Premiere

Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” has been picked up for Germany by the newly established distribution company owned by New York-based private equity group KKR. Fred Kogel’s rapidly growing, but still unnamed, German independent production and distribution operation has taken all rights for Germany and Austria on the all-star whodunnit, which stars Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas and Christopher Plummer. In the United States, the whodunnit will be screened at this year’s Fantastic Fest. Don Johnson is slated to be in attendance at the fest which kicks off in Austin September 19 and continues through September 26. “Knives Out” will receive its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It was announced Monday that it would receive its European premiere with a gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 8. The movie comes from Lionsgate and MRC, and pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie. It revolves around the family of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) who are all suspects after the author is found dead. Debonair detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) is enlisted to investigate, sifting through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth with the help of his partner (Stanfield). It opens through Lionsgate in the U.S. on Nov. 27.

According to Empire, Rian Johnson’s murder mystery Knives Out isn’t due to land in the UK until the end of November, but those attending this year’s London Film Festival are in for a treat, as it has been selected as the American Express Gala screening, and will make its European premiere at the fest on 8 October. Knives Out sees Johnson channelling Agatha Christie for a mystery featuring the death of renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). When he’s found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. The writer-director has assembled a cast that also includes Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, and Ana de Armas. “I’m thrilled to be screening Knives Out at the BFI London Film Festival,” says the director. “This film was an attempt to capture the twisty fun of an Agatha Christie whodunnit, it’s a great pleasure to be showing it in the country responsible for the genre’s golden age.” The 63rd BFI London Film festival takes place between 2 October and 13 October, and the full scheduled will be announced at the end of this month.