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👋 Good morning! Hollywood's A-list came out in force Saturday night as Francis Ford Coppola received the AFI Life Achievement Award. Spielberg hailed ‘The Godfather’ as "the greatest American film ever made," while Lucas celebrated his friend for teaching filmmakers to "not be afraid of jumping off cliffs." The honor comes just months after Coppola's self-financed $120M ‘Megalopolis’ flopped, reminding us that for true visionaries, artistic integrity always trumps box office returns.

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🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Box Office Breakdown

• 'Sinners' Proves Theaters Matter

• Superman vs. Global Copyright

• ESPN Enters Its TikTok Era

• 10,000 Pages, 0 Credits

• Last Looks: 👀 Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Call Sheet: The week ahead

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, let’s take a look at what happened at the box office this past weekend!

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ The force is strong at the box office this weekend…

1. 🧛‍♂️ Sinners: $45M domestic weekend (-6%), $122.5M domestic total, $161.6M global. Ryan Coogler's vampire horror posts the smallest second-weekend drop ever for an R-rated film.

2. 🌌 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (re-release): $25.2M domestic opening, $42.2M global debut. George Lucas' 20-year-old prequel delivers the third most successful re-release launch ever for a film widely available at home.

3. 🧮 The Accountant 2: 🆕 $24.5M domestic opening, $38.2M global debut. Ben Affleck's action sequel matches the 2016 original's opening almost to the dollar, earning strong reviews (78% RT) and audience scores (A- CinemaScore). Skews heavily toward older audiences with 49% over 45.

4. 🎮 A Minecraft Movie: (Wk 4) $22.7M domestic weekend (-44%), $380M domestic total, $816.6M global. Warner Bros.' animated blockbuster crosses the $800M global milestone and remains 2025's biggest hit to date.

5. 🌅 Until Dawn: 🆕 $8M domestic opening, $18.1M global debut. Sony's video game adaptation struggles domestically with mediocre 50% RT score and C+ CinemaScore, but shows better potential internationally.

6. ✝️ The King of Kings: (Wk 3) $4M domestic weekend (-77%), $54.5M domestic total. Angel Studios' faith-based drama sees a significant drop after Easter boost.

7. 🕵️ The Amateur: (Wk 3) $3.8M domestic weekend (-46%), $33.9M domestic total. 20th Century's spy thriller continues steady mid-range performance.

8. 🔫 Warfare: (Wk 3) $2.7M domestic weekend (-45%), $21.8M domestic total. A24's military drama holding decently in limited release.

9. 🎒The Legend of Ochi: (Wk 2) $1.4M domestic weekend (+2,648%), $1.5M domestic total. A24's supernatural thriller expands from limited run last weekend.

10. 🎸 Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii: 🆕 $1.3M domestic weekend, $2.6M domestic total.

The Big Picture: The weekend box office is on fire with a massive $146.5M haul, up 56.3% from last year. For the first time in two years, four different movies managed to crack $20M in the same weekend—a feat that had cinema operators wondering if they'd accidentally time-traveled back to 2019. Disney's ‘Revenge of the Sith’ re-release claimed the #2 spot as the widest catalog re-release ever with 2,775 screens, proving the theatrical nostalgia trend is only getting bigger and more lucrative. After a Q1 that had exhibitors contemplating career changes, theaters have now enjoyed four straight $100M+ weekends in April.

CLOSEUP
🍿 The director’s enthusiasm is the marketing campaign…

'Sinners' second weekend was almost as big as its first, dropping a tiny 6%—when Hollywood considers a 50% decline 'healthy.' Ryan Coogler's vampire tale is apparently immune to the usual box office decay. The proof is in the numbers:

• $91,000 per-screen average for IMAX 70mm locations

• Additional showings added to meet demand at several theaters

So what's going on here? A March survey revealed something studios should have already known: 72% of moviegoers still think theaters are worth the money. Only 6% would rather wait for streaming when they're actually excited about a movie. The problem was never getting people to theaters—it was giving them something worth showing up for.

The secret weapon? Coogler's infectious enthusiasm about the movie's format became a surprising marketing boost. His 10-minute video explaining projection formats—where he geeked out about perforations on Ultra Panavision frames and shifting aspect ratios—turned into an unexpected viral moment, helping spark two full weekends of cinema pilgrimages to the eight US theaters showing 70mm IMAX. Some viewers literally traveled hundreds of miles to experience the film in Coogler's intended format.

These theaters are leaning all the way in, with several now offering commemorative 'Sinners' film strips to IMAX 70mm ticketholders. These souvenirs have become hot collector's items, with some fans buying additional tickets just to snag the limited memorabilia.

We’ve seen this before… 'Avatar' had audiences buying 3D glasses in 2009 like limited-edition merch. 'Sinners' proves that even in 2025, when everyone has home theaters in their pockets, audiences will show up for experiences they can't get on their couch.

Big picture: 'Sinners' isn't alone in turning theatrical viewing into an event. 'Minecraft' accidentally pulled this same trick earlier this month when the viral "Chicken Jockey" scene became a cultural sensation, with Gen Z viewers flocking to theaters specifically to participate in communal reactions—cheering, reciting lines, and creating a 'Rocky Horror'-like atmosphere that simply can't be replicated at home. The theatrical experience isn't dead—mediocre theatrical experiences are.

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WIDESHOT
🎬 ‘Superman,’ ESPN, and forgotten writers…

🎬🔔 Hollywood's IP time bombs are ticking. Warner Bros. just dodged a bullet when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster's estate that threatened to block the upcoming film's release in multiple countries. Here's the headache studios didn't see coming: owning Batman in America doesn't mean you own him everywhere. International copyright laws (like the UK's rule that rights revert 25 years after an author's death) mean studios' grip on billion-dollar franchises is shakier than they thought. As classic characters from the '30s-'60s hit these international copyright milestones, the families and estates of original creators are waking up to massive payday opportunities outside the US. For studios whose entire business model depends on worldwide simultaneous releases, this is like discovering your prenup doesn't apply in other countries—awkward and potentially very expensive. With franchises now worth billions in global revenue, losing international rights would be a financial catastrophe that could sink even tentpole films into the red.

📱🏈 ESPN is having a "How do you do, fellow kids?" moment. With younger viewers gravitating toward "bite-size entertainment," even media giant Disney is adapting its strategy. At a recent sports conference, Bob Iger laid out his vision for "Flagship"—ESPN's soon-to-launch streaming service—emphasizing it won't just be a repository of live sports rights, but a platform designed for how Gen Z actually consumes content. The plan: hook the youth with all their favorite stuff: short-form highlights, multiple camera angles, fantasy integration, and betting features. ESPN's experiment represents the entire industry's existential challenge—how do you convince kids who've been mainlining rapid-fire social media clips to come back to your app when their attention spans have been programmed for viral clips, not four-hour baseball games?

🎮📝 Hollywood has selective amnesia about video game writers. Sony's ‘Until Dawn’ film somehow forgot to credit the guys who wrote the actual game—Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, who crafted a Guinness World Record-breaking 10,000 pages for the 2015 game. Why so massive? The choose-your-own-adventure format meant writing entirely new narrative branches for every possible player choice. (For context: normal games need 200-400 pages. That's like writing 25 entire novels!) While Marvel movies give "special thanks" to every comic book artist who ever sketched Captain America's shield, game writers get the Hollywood equivalent of being left on read. With no union representation or standard crediting practices—and the WGA's Video Game Writers Caucus disbanded in 2021—expect this disconnect to worsen as studios keep mining video game IP for box office gold.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Tom Hanks will return for a ‘Greyhound’ sequel set to film in early 2026, expanding the story from D-Day to the Pacific Theater. (more)

• Michael B. Jordan’s ‘Thomas Crown Affair’ reboot from Amazon MGM Studios is set for a March 2027 release with an IMAX rollout. (more)

• Emma Mackey will star as the White Witch in Greta Gerwig’s Netflix adaptation of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia,’ reuniting the two after ‘Barbie.’ (more)

• Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, and Steve Buscemi have joined the cast of John Turturro’s thriller ‘The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.’ (more)

• Jesse Plemons will play a young Plutarch Heavensbee in Lionsgate’s ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.’ (more)

• Norman Reedus has joined Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Phoebe Dynevor in the Darren Aronofsky-produced horror film ‘Pendulum.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ will film seasons two and three back-to-back in Hungary after relocating from the UK. (more)

• Mediawan has secured major licensing deals for Bille August’s ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ in the U.S., U.K., and other key territories. (more)

Business 🤝

• 50 Cent is suing Ryan Kavanaugh and GenTV to block the release of ‘Skillhouse,’ claiming he was never paid for his acting role. (more)

• Simon Thomas, ‘Love Island USA’ executive producer, is leaving ITV to become Head of Creative at Pantheon Media Group. (more)

Other News 🚨

• ‘60 Minutes’ explained executive producer Bill Owens’ exit, citing Paramount’s growing content supervision during its merger push. (more)

• ‘Baby Reindeer,’ ‘Shōgun,’ ‘Slow Horses,’ and ‘Rivals’ were among the big winners at the 2025 BAFTA TV Craft Awards in London. (more)

• The Casting Society is warning actors and casting pros about a rise in online scams offering fake auditions in exchange for money. (more)

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CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead

• WEDNESDAY: Paramount Q1 earnings announcement 📊

• THURSDAY: Apple, Amazon, and ROKU earnings announcement 📊

• FRIDAY: FUBO and Cinemark earnings announcement 📊

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments