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The Halloween box office was a quiet affair in North America, and the film that came out on top was a near-three-hour documentary in its third weekend. A24’s “You Can See Everything,” about Elizabeth Holmes, took the top spot with an estimated $10.6 million. It beat Warner Bros.’ “Clayface” by about $200,000, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

Final numbers arrive Monday, and a photo finish can flip. Still, the estimates point to a modest victory for a film that cost only $7 million to make.

Why the Halloween box office stalled

Total ticket sales for the weekend came to roughly $60 million, according to Rentrak. That ranks among the slowest weekends of 2026, and one estimate suggested it would not climb past $63 million. There were no major new wide releases, and the holiday fell on a Saturday, usually the biggest moviegoing night.

“With costume parties, trick-or-treating and countless other Halloween activities, theaters were facing some pretty stiff competition for people’s time and attention,” said Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian. Families tend to choose trick-or-treating over the multiplex when the holiday lands on a weekend.

The weekend was still an improvement on last year’s. The 2025 Halloween frame totaled about $49 million, led by “Regretting You” and “Black Phone 2.” The year as a whole is also running well ahead, with domestic box office up more than 17% from 2025 at nearly $8.5 billion.

A documentary’s unlikely run

“You Can See Everything” has now earned about $63.9 million in North America, and it hasn’t opened internationally yet. This was its first weekend at No. 1. Dergarabedian called that “a rare achievement for any film, let alone a documentary running more than three hours.”

Variety reports that enthusiastic word of mouth and repeat viewings are driving the run, as audiences return to process what the film shows. It is expected to finish as one of the biggest documentaries in decades.

‘Clayface’ and the economics of a smaller superhero film

“Clayface,” an R-rated origin story for the Batman villain, fell 57% in its second weekend. It has made $44.1 million domestically and $83 million worldwide, against a reported $44 million budget. That is lean for DC. Last year’s “Superman” cost $225 million, and July’s “Supergirl” cost $175 million. Variety attributes the lower spending to the film’s darker tone and a title character less famous than DC’s headliners. Bigger bets follow with “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” next summer and “The Batman: Part II” in 2028.

The rest of the top five

Laika’s stop-motion fantasy “Wildwood” held third with $7.5 million, down 39%, for a $25.9 million domestic total. Its $100 million budget makes a theatrical profit unlikely, Variety notes.

“Wicker,” a comedy with Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, took fourth with $4.1 million, a 28% drop. Its $13.2 million total looks healthy for a Sundance pickup that cost $2.5 million to acquire. “Street Fighter” was fifth with $3.2 million after a 63% decline. It has made $53 million in North America and $91.9 million worldwide, but its $82 million budget and the share of ticket sales theaters keep leave it far from breaking even.

Further down, the Sundance title “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” added more than 1,000 locations and earned $1.9 million for eighth place. Netflix’s World War II film “The Mosquito Bowl” made $455,000 from 349 theaters. Variety also noted that Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” reboot has reached $400 million globally.

Taken together, the results show a market that is healthy over the year but sensitive to the calendar. The Halloween box office was held back by the date, and the weekend’s winner was a small documentary rather than a studio tentpole.

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Tovah Feldshuh is drawing a line between disagreement and discord on the set of Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This.” The actress, who plays Bina, the mother of Adam Brody’s Rabbi Noah, says the cast’s split over the Israel-Palestine conflict is real but is not turning into friction at work.

Tovah Feldshuh Separates ‘Tensions’ From ‘Profound Differences’

Feldshuh responded on Threads to a user who claimed “tensions are emerging” on the show. Her reply was pointed: “Tensions are NOT RISING. Profound differences of opinion are.” She asked people not to “conflate the two” and said none of it “will be brought to the set.” She added that she deeply enjoys filming the series and hopes it is “chosen” to continue for a fourth season.

That last line matters because the show has not been renewed. Creator Erin Foster has said she has “more story to tell,” but Netflix has not committed to a Season 4.

How the Disagreement Began

The debate traces back to a September GQ interview in which Brody spoke plainly about the war in Gaza. “Put me down as thinking it’s a genocide,” he said. “Put me down as wanting a free Palestine.” He called the death and misery “awful” and said the situation seemed to be reaching a breaking point. Deadline’s account of the interview adds that he voiced hope that “another administration” could correct policies he believes worsen the crisis.

Foster, who is Jewish and drew on her own relationship with her husband for the show, responded more cautiously. She called the issue “complicated” and said she loves Brody but disagrees with him. She likened the set to “dinner tables around the world where people are having debate and discussion and disagreeing,” and added, “that’s OK.”

Feldshuh’s reaction was much sharper. She told The New York Post that accusing the Jewish people of genocide is “wild” and “right out of Hitler’s playbook,” arguing that it takes the victim and makes the victim the perpetrator. Her Threads post suggests she wants the dispute understood as a clash of convictions, not a breakdown in working relationships.

A Show That Has Steered Clear of Politics

The public argument is striking partly because the series itself has avoided the conflict. “Nobody Wants This” follows Joanne (Kristen Bell), an agnostic podcaster who falls for the progressive Rabbi Noah and starts exploring conversion to Judaism, a choice that unsettles both of their families. Its themes are faith, identity and family expectations, not geopolitics.

Still, a series built on Jewish identity can hardly keep real-world debates at bay once its stars start speaking publicly. The cast’s comments suggest Foster’s “dinner table” comparison is what the production is aiming for: open disagreement without turning the set into a battleground.

Whether that holds will be tested only if Netflix orders more episodes. For now, Tovah Feldshuh is making clear that she wants to return, and that, in her telling, the disagreement stays off the soundstage.

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File photo: Tovah Feldshuh 2016 (cropped).png by Neshamasheli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Playing a near-indestructible android didn’t spare him from a very human injury. Paul Bettany says he burst about 10 blood vessels in one eye while filming Marvel’s VisionQuest, the result of what he calls some seriously overcooked acting.

What Paul Bettany said about the blood vessels

Bettany shared the story on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as reported by Deadline and Variety. The scene called for him to pretend a device on his head was messing with his brain. “I was just wildly overacting,” he said, “and I blew out about 10 blood vessels in my eye.” His verdict: “It was a lesson in less is more.”

According to Variety, Kimmel then showed the audience a photo of the blood-filled eyeball. Bettany said the redness lasted “like two weeks.” He assumes it “must’ve cost production so much” to remove it with CGI. That is his own guess about how the show handled it, not a confirmed account of the visual effects work.

A joke about the actor’s own eyesight

Bettany also found some irony in the mishap. “The actor playing Vision is kind of myopic,” he joked, adding that he “can’t see a thing” without his glasses. He said that is “great depending on the actor you’re working with.”

The anecdote fits the show’s premise, which asks Vision to look inward. VisionQuest is set after WandaVision (2021). It follows the character as he communicates with several AI personas embedded in his programming while trying to work out who he is. With a bounty on his head, he goes on the run with a mysterious teen played by Ruaridh Mollica, who may be his reincarnated son.

Where VisionQuest stands now

Variety reports that the eight-episode series debuted on Disney+ on October 14. Deadline says the Season 1 finale airs November 10. Bettany first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. in the first Iron Man. He then played Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and WandaVision.

James Spader returns as Ultron, and the cast also includes Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, James D’Arcy, Orla Brady and Emily Hampshire. The coverage doesn’t say which episode or scene the injury happened in, so viewers will have to guess whether the brain-device sequence is the one.

The sources don’t say whether Bettany needed any medical treatment beyond waiting for the redness to fade. What they do show is an actor laughing at himself. Paul Bettany’s blood vessels paid the price for a scene he now says would have worked better with a lighter touch.

File photo: Paul Bettany – Los Angeles Comic Con 2025.jpg by Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Taika Waititi has told critics they are “irrelevant, out of touch, obsolete” and “in the bin” after Klara and the Sun opened to a rotten Rotten Tomatoes score and a box office launch that barely registered. The film had grossed about $1.7 million worldwide at the time of reporting.

The Oscar-winning director posted the broadside on Instagram on Halloween, sharing the film’s poster along with its Rotten Tomatoes audience and critics scores. “I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people,” he wrote. He then urged followers to “spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus became critics,” adding that they were “the same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit.”

What the Klara and the Sun scores show

The gap Waititi highlighted is real, though the exact figures shift depending on the outlet and the hour. Reports put the critics’ score between 26 and 28 percent. The audience score was cited at 78 percent in his post, and Deadline noted it had slipped to 73 percent by its report. IGN put it at 74 percent. Either way, viewers have been far kinder than reviewers.

Deadline’s own review said the director seemed a natural fit for Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, given his taste for peculiar, cringe-tinged comedy. It concluded that the film “just doesn’t deliver on any of the fronts it promises.” Deadline also reported that the negative notes began with the film’s screening at the BFI London Film Festival this month.

His Jojo Rabbit jab is less clear-cut. IGN pointed out that the 2019 film holds an 81 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and drew strong notices, including an 8.5/10 from IGN itself. It is not obvious which negative reaction he means.

A box office launch that barely registered

The commercial picture is harder to spin. Sony reportedly cut the release of Klara and the Sun to roughly 880 North American theaters, down from an anticipated 2,000, according to the sources. The film opened to an estimated $701,000 to $725,000 domestically, depending on the report, and landed outside the top 10. IGN, citing Deadline, said Sony stopped reporting the film’s earnings over the following weekend. Reported budgets range from about $20 million to $40 million.

Some commenters on Deadline’s story blamed thin marketing rather than the reviews, saying they had seen almost no trailers. Others said a film tracking that low would never get a big promotional push. The sources don’t settle that argument, and it’s impossible to say from the numbers alone how much the reviews, the marketing or the material itself drove the result.

The film, and Waititi’s view of AI

The adaptation stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an “Artificial Friend” bought for a gravely ill teenager, with Amy Adams as the girl’s mother. Waititi’s AI comments at the New York premiere, reported by The Hollywood Reporter, now sit awkwardly beside the public spat. He said AI use in the industry is probably inevitable, but that he wants it used “as a tool, as opposed to a replacement.” He added, “I don’t want to replace humans. I want to work with them.”

Directors pushing back on critics is hardly new, and the audience scores give Waititi some ground to stand on. But with Klara and the Sun struggling to find moviegoers at all, a public attack on reviewers is unlikely to change the box office story. The film is a small-scale test of how far a director’s name and a famous novel can carry a project when both reviews and release plans go wrong.

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File photo: Taika Waititi photo by pouria afkhami (cropped).jpg by Pixoos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Michael Mann, the 83-year-old director of Heat, was treated at a hospital and released after a Michael Mann gun range accident in Los Angeles on Saturday, according to his representative. The injury was described as superficial, and the filmmaker is now said to be on his way home.

The Associated Press reported the news after speaking with Mann’s representative on Sunday. The story first surfaced on the celebrity site TMZ. In a statement quoted by several outlets, the representative said: “On Saturday, at a gun range, a weapon accidentally discharged while holstered resulting in a superficial injury to film director Michael Mann. He was treated and is being released.”

What we know about the incident

The core facts are consistent across the coverage. The accident happened Saturday, which was Halloween, at a Los Angeles gun range. The Guardian names the venue as The Range LA. A gun went off while still in its holster, and the bullet struck Mann in the leg. Emergency services were called and he was taken to a hospital.

The finer details differ slightly between outlets, and some remain unclear. TMZ, as relayed by the Guardian, said Mann had been trying to holster the weapon when it discharged. IGN, also citing TMZ, said the incident happened during a training exercise of some kind and that Mann had no intention of harming himself. The representative’s statement says only that the gun discharged while holstered. IGN itself noted that additional details are unclear.

Several reports stressed Mann’s familiarity with firearms. The Independent said he has apparently been an experienced target shooter for decades and that the accident happened at a sanctioned range. That detail fits a long-standing reputation for rigorous, hands-on preparation in his crime films, though none of the sources suggest the film work was connected to Saturday’s events.

What it means for Heat 2

The timing will draw attention because Mann is in the middle of preparing his long-awaited follow-up to Heat. According to IGN, Christian Bale confirmed in February that he would soon begin filming in Chicago, and Leonardo DiCaprio joined the project in July. Both are reportedly set to play Vincent Hanna and Chris Shiherlis, though IGN framed the casting details as reported rather than confirmed. Stephen Graham and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are also expected to appear, and the film will draw on Mann’s novel of the same name.

The sources disagree on the schedule. IGN said filming had been expected to begin this month, while the Independent, citing the AP, said the sequel is supposed to begin filming early next year. Nothing in the reporting says the injury will delay production, and the description of the wound as superficial suggests no major disruption. Still, no one involved has commented on the production calendar since the incident.

A busy stretch for a veteran filmmaker

The Michael Mann gun range accident comes during an active period for the director, whose credits include Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, Thief, Public Enemies and the 2023 drama Ferrari with Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz. He also helped create the 1980s TV series Miami Vice. IGN reports that last month he premiered a director’s cut of his 2006 Miami Vice film and discussed his latest changes at a Q&A at Beyond Fest.

For now, the picture is reassuring. A holstered weapon discharged, an experienced shooter was hurt, and the injury was minor enough that he was released the same weekend. Further details, including how the discharge happened, have not been made public, and Mann’s representative has so far offered only the brief statement above.

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File photo: Michael Mann – French Cinematheque – 4th July 2009.jpg by Thbz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Patrick Stewart death, announced after the actor died at 86 at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday evening, has drawn tributes from across theatre, film and politics, with Dame Judi Dench among the first of his contemporaries to speak publicly about the loss.

Speaking to the Press Association at an event marking 50 years of the National Theatre building, Dame Judi, 91, said she was “very, very shocked” and “very surprised” by the news. She described a colleague who never coasted. “He’s never been one of those actors who never felt like it that night, he was always very, very committed,” she said. “He’ll be much missed and he was much admired.”

A shared stage and a shared classroom

Dench and Stewart both belonged to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stewart joined in 1966 and went on to appear in dozens of its productions, building a stage reputation long before television made him a household name. The two also appeared together in Playing Shakespeare, a 1982 television masterclass series.

That grounding in classical theatre was the thread running through many of the tributes. Sir David Suchet, Dame Harriet Walter, James McAvoy and Sir Ian McKellen were among those who paid their respects. Downing Street said Stewart “never forgot his working-class Yorkshire roots” and brought “joy to millions”. On Friday’s edition of BBC’s The One Show, presenters Roman Kemp and Clara Amfo closed the programme with a 2023 clip in which Stewart recalled his first time on a stage. “I felt safer than I’d ever felt in my life,” he said.

What the family statement said

A statement on Stewart’s Instagram page said he died after a “brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia”. The Mirror reported that his wife, Sunny, confirmed the news. The statement said he was surrounded by family and friends, live music, prayers and laughter, and it remembered him for “the dignity, compassion and humanity he brought to every role – in his art and life.”

It also highlighted his philanthropy and activism, including work for survivors of domestic violence, refugees, veterans’ mental health services and animal welfare. It described him as a Knight, Chancellor, motor sport enthusiast and lifelong Huddersfield fan. Rather than flowers, the family asked for contributions to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre Fund and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s caregiver resources.

A career from Shakespeare to the Starship Enterprise

Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1940, Stewart had a career of six decades. He won two Olivier Awards for supporting roles in Shakespeare, for Antony and Cleopatra in 1979 and Hamlet in 2009. He also earned four Emmy nominations and a Grammy for a children’s recording of Peter and the Wolf. Global fame came as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987, and later as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, beginning in 2000. Fans will see him once more as Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday, due in mid-December.

Understanding the conditions behind his death

Coverage of the Patrick Stewart death has also prompted questions about the two conditions named. Lewy body dementia, also called dementia with Lewy bodies, is caused by clumps of protein in the brain’s nerve cells. The Independent reports that it is thought to affect around 100,000 people in the UK. Around 5 per cent of diagnosed dementia cases are recorded as this type, but specialists argue it is under-diagnosed and the true share could be as high as 20 per cent.

Symptoms can include hallucinations, confusion, slow movement, tremors, disturbed sleep and fainting spells. Many of these overlap with Alzheimer’s, which makes diagnosis difficult. A US physician told HuffPost there is no single definitive test. There is no cure, though medication and therapies can ease symptoms. Survival after diagnosis is estimated at five to seven years on average, though it can be far longer.

Public awareness of the condition rose after Robin Williams was diagnosed with it posthumously following his 2014 death. For Stewart’s admirers, the Patrick Stewart death is a reminder of how little warning these illnesses can give, and of the dedication Dench says he brought to every performance.

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File photo: Patrick Stewart 1999.jpg by Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Selma Blair apology arrived about three weeks after the October 11 flight that led to criminal charges. In an Instagram video, the actor said she was “so sorry” to anyone she hurt, frightened or alarmed. She has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and her next court date is in January.

What the Selma Blair apology did and did not say

Blair, 54, kept the video tightly scoped. She acknowledged she had been quiet since the incident and said her fans deserved to hear from her directly. She also said her lawyers had asked her not to discuss that day, and that she was following their advice. She did not address the allegations, the medical explanation offered on her behalf, or the people named in the charging documents.

What she offered was a statement of character. “Not one day ever have I intended to hurt or frighten anyone,” she said, adding that she took the matter “very seriously.” She thanked people who had sent support and said her service dog, Scout, who travelled with her, was doing well. She has lived with multiple sclerosis since her 2018 diagnosis. She closed by saying she would now focus on her health and her son.

The allegations behind the case

According to charging documents, Blair was detained when the Delta flight from Los Angeles landed in New York and was taken to hospital for evaluation. A police officer accompanying her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center alleged that, while being secured to a stretcher, Blair freed one leg from the straps and repeatedly kicked the officer in the face, neck and chest. The officer reported serious pain and substantial swelling. A nurse later said Blair kicked her in the chest while moving her.

Blair was arraigned in Queens on the two second-degree assault counts. A judge set bail at $20,000 cash or a $60,000 bond. These are allegations only, and Blair has entered a not guilty plea.

The defence: a medical emergency

The explanation from Blair’s side has stayed consistent. Her representatives said from the start that her alleged behaviour stemmed from a severe medical emergency. In court, her lawyer, Shawn Barnes, said her actions were not intentional. He told the judge she had missed several doses of a powerful medication that controls severe neurological symptoms, according to reports in the New York Daily News and New York Post. He added that she boarded the flight amid a heavy workload and hit her head in the air. Together with the effects of altitude, he said, this produced “a state of severe confusion and disorientation.”

A later statement from her representatives went further, criticising coverage as “built almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline.” It said Blair still has bad days and lives with daily pain. It also said she has pseudobulbar affect, a neurological condition secondary to her MS, which the statement said bears on how a medical episode looks to people who do not know her.

What happens next

The Selma Blair apology does not change the legal picture. The charges stand, the medical defence has so far been presented only through her lawyer and representatives, and the court has yet to test any of it. The January hearing will be the next point at which the case moves forward. For now, the video reads as a personal gesture, an attempt to acknowledge those affected without saying anything that could complicate her defence.

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File photo: Selma Blair (6541171199).jpg by Gordon Correll, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The latest Jack Nicholson update comes from one of his oldest collaborators, and it is reassuring: the three-time Oscar winner is fine, just largely out of sight. Michael Douglas, who produced Nicholson’s breakthrough-to-legend vehicle “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” said the actor has “disappeared” from public life but remains “well.”

Douglas, 82, made the remarks at an event in Swansea, Wales, while promoting his memoir “One Helluva Ride.” Asked about Nicholson, he said: “I would have liked to have acted with Jack. He’s not working any more. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that.” He added: “I still see him, but he is fine. He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers. It happens. He deserves it. I understand. He is a few years older than me, but I understand.”

A Friendship Built Behind the Camera

The two men have never appeared on screen together, a fact Douglas openly regrets. Their connection dates to the mid-1970s, when Douglas produced “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the 1975 film in which Nicholson played Randle McMurphy. According to The Independent, Douglas acquired the rights to Ken Kesey’s novel from his father, Kirk Douglas, who had previously held them. The film won five of its nine Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor for Nicholson, and earned Douglas an Academy Award as producer.

Why Nicholson’s Silence Has Drawn So Much Attention

Nicholson, 89, has never formally announced his retirement. His last film role was in 2010’s “How Do You Know,” some 16 years ago. For an actor once seen at nightclubs, premieres, talk shows and courtside at basketball games, the withdrawal has been conspicuous. The Independent noted that music producer Lou Adler once said on the “WTF” podcast that Nicholson prefers “sitting under a tree and reading a book.” Actor Carol Kane, who worked with him in the early 1970s, told the paper in 2024 that she still checks in on him, and that he is “still answering my calls.”

Douglas’s portrait of an elder statesman enjoying a quiet life fits a pattern of glimpses over the past couple of years. Nicholson has made only occasional appearances at Los Angeles Lakers games. In February 2025, he turned up on the “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special on NBC, attending with his daughter Lorraine and introducing Adam Sandler, as he had done a decade earlier at the show’s 40th. That remains his last known public appearance.

This April, Lorraine posted a rare photo to her Instagram story marking his 89th birthday. It showed him smiling and clapping beside singer Joni Mitchell. She did not say when it was taken.

What the Latest Jack Nicholson Update Does and Doesn’t Tell Us

Douglas offered no medical details and no hint of a comeback, and his comments should be read as a friend’s reassurance rather than an official statement. But the tone is notable. Rather than lament Nicholson’s absence, Douglas framed it as earned. With Nicholson due to turn 90 next April, the message from a man who has known him for half a century is that the star has chosen a private life and appears content with it.

Douglas’s memoir, meanwhile, has been drawing attention for its candid recollections of his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones and of past relationships. It is his own legacy project, he has said, but as this Jack Nicholson update shows, it is also prompting questions about the old friends and collaborators who shaped his career.

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File photo: Jack Nicholson.0911.jpg by Franz Richter (User:FRZ), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

With Ian Gillan hospitalized after what the band calls a “medical emergency,” Deep Purple have scrubbed two German concerts, leaving fans in Leipzig and Hamburg waiting on word about both the singer and the rescheduled dates. The 81-year-old frontman’s condition has not been disclosed.

The band said on Saturday, October 31, that it could not play that night at Leipzig’s QI Arena or the following evening at Hamburg’s Sporthalle. Outlets described the notice as arriving only hours before showtime. In the statement, Deep Purple acknowledged the short notice and said they shared fans’ disappointment. They said the band and its team are “focused on finding a suitable time to reschedule both these shows,” and that tickets already bought will be honored at the new dates.

What We Know About the Medical Emergency

The answer is very little. None of the coverage identifies the cause of the emergency, how serious it is, or when Gillan might be discharged. A band spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that he remained in hospital on Saturday. Rolling Stone reported he was being treated in Germany. It also noted that the band’s early talk of rescheduling suggests the situation may not be dire, though that is an inference, not a confirmed assessment.

Is the Rest of the Tour at Risk?

As of Rolling Stone’s reporting, Deep Purple were still booked to resume their European run on November 3 in Dortmund. The trek is set to end on November 25 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, followed by a December tour of Latin America. Deadline reports that the “Splat!” world tour is slated to continue through the rest of the year, with a final concert in Poland in June 2027. Whether Gillan can make the Dortmund date has not been addressed publicly, so that schedule could change.

The tour supports Splat!, the band’s 2026 album and its 24th studio release. The current lineup is Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Don Airey and guitarist Simon McBride.

Gillan’s Recent Comments on His Health and Future

The news lands after a year in which Gillan’s stamina and eyesight drew attention. In a November 2025 interview with Uncut, he said he has only about 30 percent vision and that it “won’t get better.” Retirement speculation followed, but he pushed back. In June he told the same magazine he would stop only “when I haven’t got the strength to do it, or when it becomes embarrassing.” In August, he told The Independent at the Montreux Jazz Festival that he “never said” he was retiring and that the band was still “cranking.”

Nothing in the reports links this week’s emergency to his eyesight or any other known condition. Any such connection would be speculation.

A Long Career, and a Notable Year for the Band

Gillan joined Deep Purple in 1969 as part of the band’s celebrated Mark II lineup, which turned the group toward a heavier hard rock sound. He left in 1973, later fronted his own band Gillan and spent a short stint with Black Sabbath. He rejoined Deep Purple in 1984, left again in 1989, and has been back since 1992. He co-wrote “Smoke on the Water,” the band’s best-known song.

It has been an emotional year for the group’s extended family. Ritchie Blackmore, 81, joined them onstage this summer in Wantagh, New York, for “Smoke on the Water,” his first appearance with the band since leaving in 1993. Rolling Stone also noted that former Deep Purple singer and bassist Glenn Hughes recently revealed he was recovering from a 10-hour open-heart operation.

For now, the priority is Gillan’s recovery. Fans holding tickets for Leipzig and Hamburg should watch the band’s official channels for new dates, since the existing tickets remain valid.

File photo: 2022 Lieder am See – Deep Purple – Ian Gillan – by 2eight – 9SC6765.jpg by Stefan Brending (2eight), CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons.

HBO Max has shadow-dropped a surprise Derry Halloween episode, a 30-minute special titled “A Story of Derry” that is now streaming alongside the first season of It: Welcome to Derry. The streamer announced it on social media on October 31 with a short teaser and the tagline “IT’s a surprise Halloween treat.”

The official logline reads: “Hundreds of years before Pennywise, three youngsters venture into the Western Wood… where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit.” The Instagram clip shows a Native American girl running through the woods with a bow and arrow at the ready. According to IGN, an on-screen text introduction refers to the “Kollu,” a presence that “first preyed on our people.” The text describes a warning hidden inside a gentler tale meant for children, “the story we do not teach.”

Who made the Derry Halloween episode

The special was directed by Tazbah Chavez, whose credits include Reservation Dogs and The Paper. It was written by Cherie Dimaline, a producer on the series, and Jasmyne Flournoy, the show’s writer and editor. The credits, along with the Indigenous perspective in the setup, suggest a story told from the point of view of the people who lived in the area long before Derry existed. That is a corner of the town’s history the series had not previously explored.

The release came with no advance notice, though not without speculation. IGN reports that rumors of a secretly shot bonus episode had circulated for weeks. Many fans dismissed them, partly because of a recent high-profile case of fan theories about a surprise finale that came to nothing. Polygon reports the episode appeared on HBO Max at midnight.

What it means for the Derry timeline

Season 1 premiered on October 26, 2025, as a prequel to the 2017 and 2019 It films. It was set in 1962. Season 2, renewed by HBO in August, jumps back to 1935 and the Great Depression. It centers on the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammunition and meet unimaginable horror. That episode of town history comes from Stephen King’s 1986 novel. IGN also notes that a planned third season was previously said to be set in 1908.

The new special reaches back much further than any of those. Polygon calls it “a satisfying amuse-bouche” while fans wait, and it reinforces the sense that the series is an anthology exploring different eras of the same cursed town.

Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane told Deadline this month that the writers are about halfway through the Season 2 scripts and that co-creator Andy Muschietti is casting. Kane said Season 2, expected in late 2027 or 2028, will show Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård, in a “way you’ve never seen that character before.” Muschietti told Variety the new season will feel bleaker, with Derry as “a graveyard almost” and a young cast that includes orphans and runaways, though “the aspect of hope” is always there.

For now, viewers have a short, unexpected Halloween gift. With the two films and Season 1 also on HBO Max, the platform has effectively assembled a full Derry marathon for the night, with the oldest story in the town’s history added at the start.

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File photo: It Welcome to Derry at 53rd Saturn Awards 2026.jpg by Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.