Focus Features Lands Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’

Focus Features has acquired U.S. rights to Nomadic country And Eternals the next film from director Chloé Zhao, The portwith Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn.

Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions and Zhao’s Book of Shadows are backing the feature film based on Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel of the same name about William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, as she grieves the loss of her son, Hamnet.

The focus will be released The port in the United States, while Universal Pictures International handles the rest of the world. Zhao, an Oscar winner for Nomadic countrya brutal drama about life on the edge of America, wrote the screenplay for The port with O’Farrell. The novel The port has sold 2 million copies in the UK and US and has been translated into 40 languages.

Zhao, who also works as a screenwriter and editor on several of her films, won Oscars for best director and best picture. Nomadic country with Marvel Studios Eternalsthe big-budget sci-fi adventure she directed and co-wrote. Zhao is also known for The rider.

Producer credits on The port are produced by Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg. Kristie Macosko Krieger, Nic Gonda and Laurie Borg will serve as executive producers.

Focus Features’ upcoming project slate includes Piece by piecean animated biopic of Morgan Neville, reimagined by Robert Eggers Nosferatu and Edward Berger’s thriller ConclaveThe upcoming release list also includes Steven Soderbergh’s crime thriller Black bag, with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender; Yorgos Lanthimos Bugonia, with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons; and the third Downton Abbey movie.