🎬 A New Box Office King

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👋 Good morning. While audiences are waiting for ‘Avatar 3,’ James Cameron apparently decided to squeeze in a little side project: directing a 3D Billie Eilish concert film. The master of 3D cinematography is capturing her four-night Manchester run, with Eilish teasing the announcement mid-show Saturday night. Cameron was reportedly in the venue scouting angles, and Eilish even warned fans she'd be wearing the same costume all four nights for continuity.

Hope you had a great weekend! Grab your coffee, and we’ll catch you up on the latest industry happenings before your first meeting. First up, let’s check in on the weekend box office. 👇

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ Warner Bros. wins the weekend… and the year so far…

1. 🦸‍♂️ Superman: (Wk 2) $57.25M domestic weekend (-54%), $235M domestic total, $407M global. James Gunn's reboot is showing serious staying power with a significantly better hold than 'Man of Steel' in 2013 (-65%). Its domestic-heavy split ($235M vs. $171M international) may cap its global ceiling compared to previous DC hits.

2. 🦕 Jurassic World Rebirth: (Wk 3) $23.4M domestic weekend (-42%), $276.2M domestic total, $647M global. Celebrates crossing $600M worldwide with the best third-weekend hold in franchise history.

3. 🔪 I Know What You Did Last Summer: 🆕 $13M domestic opening, $24.6M global debut. Despite bringing back Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., this marks the lowest opening in the franchise’s history.

4. 🔵 Smurfs: 🆕 $11M domestic opening, $36M global debut. Paramount's revival featuring Rihanna couldn't recapture the magic of the 2011’s original ($35.6M opening). A franchise-low B+ CinemaScore suggests audiences aren't feeling very Smurfy about this one.

5. 🏎️ F1: (Wk 4) $9.6M domestic weekend (-26%), $153.6M domestic total, $460.8M global. Continues cruising with minimal drops.

6. 🐉 How to Train Your Dragon: (Wk 6) $5.35M domestic weekend (-32%), $250.7M domestic total, $285M global.

7. 🤠 Eddington: 🆕 $4.26M opening. Ari Aster's Western starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal splits audiences with a C+ CinemaScore. Still, it's performing better than the director's previous Phoenix collaboration, 'Beau Is Afraid.'

8. 🚀 Elio: (Wk 5) $2M domestic weekend (-50%), $68.9M domestic total, $152M global.

9. 🌺 Lilo & Stitch: (Wk 9) $1.5M domestic weekend (-45%), $418.2M domestic total, $1B+ global. The live-action remake has become 2025's first billion-dollar film globally.

10. 🧟‍♂️ 28 Years Later: (Wk 5) $1.34M domestic weekend (-51%), $68.7M domestic total, $145M global.

The big picture: Hollywood delivered a $132.3M domestic weekend, down 11.5% from last year's ‘Twisters’-dominated frame. But the box office has a new king: year-to-date, Warner Bros. has overtaken Disney as the top-grossing studio at the domestic box office with $1.32B, edging out Disney’s $1.27B, thanks to ‘Superman’s’ strong legs and a record six No. 1 openings.

CLOSEUP
🦸‍♂️ Kevin Feige calls BS on superhero fatigue…

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige isn't buying the "superhero fatigue" narrative that's been swirling around Hollywood. Just look at DC's ‘Superman’ hitting $407M globally, he says: "It's clearly not superhero fatigue."

In a candid interview ahead of ‘Fantastic Four's’ release this weekend, Feige admits Marvel created its own problems by flooding the market with content. But he’s got a game plan to fix it:

• Supply, not demand, was the problem: Marvel produced 50 hours of content from 2008-2019. After 2019's ‘Avengers: Endgame’ that jumped to 127 hours in six years. "For the first time ever, quantity trumped quality," Feige admits.

• Quality and standalone focus: Marvel's focusing on better, self-contained stories that newcomers can jump into without watching previous films or shows. The goal: eliminate the "homework" feeling that hurt films like ‘Thunderbolts*’ ($382M globally) where "nobody knew that title and many characters were from shows."

• Budget engineering: Marvel's slashed budgets by roughly a third from 2022-2023 levels. Marvel studied Gareth Edwards’ ‘The Creator’ which looked like a $200M blockbuster but only cost $80M. Feige's team met with Edwards' crew to learn efficiency tactics.

• Production location shifts: The next ‘Avengers’ films are shooting at London's Pinewood Studios—a decision made years ago when stage space was scarce during the streaming boom. Feige says future projects will likely target Georgia and New York for competitive incentives, but probably not California despite the state's new $750M tax credit.

Looking ahead… Marvel's capping films at 2-3 annually (some years just one) while slashing TV to a single live-action show per year. This weekend's ‘Fantastic Four’ will be another test for Marvel's standalone storyline and quality-over-quantity theory. Early reviews are calling it “one of the best things Marvel has ever made,” setting up a crucial demand test, especially after DC's ‘Superman’ proved audiences are still hungry for superhero content.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Netflix goes AI, A24 goes IRL…

🤖 Netflix just ran its first official AI experiment on actual viewers. The streaming giant used generative AI to create a building collapse scene in its Argentinian sci-fi series ‘El Eternauta,’ which dropped earlier this year. The use of the tech helped complete the visual effects 10 times faster than traditional methods, while enabling scenes that would have otherwise hit the cutting room floor due to budget constraints. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed the milestone last week, noting that without AI tools, "the cost just wouldn't have been feasible for a show in that budget." While Sarandos was careful to frame this as "real people doing real work with better tools" rather than job replacement, it’s Netflix’s public beta test for weaving AI into premium content production. It’s a win for Netflix, but it’s the exact scenario that has had creatives anxious about the implementation of the technology in the industry.

🎭 A24 just bought an Off-Broadway theater for $12M. The indie film studio has renovated Manhattan's historic Cherry Lane Theater into a multi-disciplinary cultural hub featuring theater, comedy, music, film screenings, and a restaurant from the Frenchette Group. Opening in September with programming curated by Sofia Coppola and performances by artists like Natalie Palamides, the 167-seat venue is part of a bigger trend where entertainment companies are creating branded physical experiences. While Netflix opens 100,000-square-foot Houses in Dallas and Philly, and Lionsgate draws crowds to its ‘John Wick’ Experience in Vegas, A24's approach brings this strategy down to indie scale. It's a smart play for tapping into the $52B experience economy while keeping that cultural street cred intact.

STATISTIC
📉 The late-night numbers don’t lie…

In the wake of CBS canceling Stephen Colbert's ‘Late Show,’ observers continue to speculate whether the decision was political or financial as the network claims. But as more financial details surface, the bigger question is: are we watching late-night TV collapse? Some numbers:

• Late-night ad revenue plummeted from $439M in 2018 to roughly $220M in 2024, while Colbert’s ad revenue collapsed from $75.7M in 2022 to just $57.7M in 2024.

• The show loses $40M+ annually with production costs exceeding $100M per season, despite leading ratings for nine straight seasons.

• Colbert earns roughly $15-20M annually, meaning even significant pay cuts couldn't close a $40M+ loss gap.

• Unlike scripted shows, topical late-night content has no syndication or streaming value after it airs.

• Younger demographics are fleeing to podcasts and TikTok, leaving late-night shows with aging viewership that advertisers value less.

• Networks have been retreating for a while. NBC reduced Fallon to four nights per week and axed Meyers' live band. Meanwhile, CBS abandoned its 12:35 AM slot entirely after James Corden's departure.

What it means: CBS might be the first network to pull the plug, but other networks are facing the same brutal math. The late-night model that worked for decades simply doesn't add up anymore.

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LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• DC film ‘Sgt. Rock’ moves forward without director Luca Guadagnino due to scheduling conflicts. (more)

• Taylor Russell exits ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,’ leaving the Michael B. Jordan remake over creative differences. (more)

• ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’ moves to June 25, 2027, four years after ‘Across the Spider-Verse.’ (more)

• Tina Fey and Marc Platt are producing a movie adaptation of ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ at Universal, with Sadie Sink executive producing. (more)

• Exec producer Sean Krajewski has parted ways with Rabbits Black amid financing turmoil on the Bryan Cranston-led ‘Lone Wolf.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• Callum Vinson joins Peacock’s ‘Friday the 13th’ prequel series ‘Crystal Lake’ as a young Jason Voorhees. (more)

• Len Cariou joins MGM+’s ‘American Classic’ after stepping in for the late Harris Yulin, with 10 more added to the cast. (more)

• An animated ‘John Carter of Mars’ series will be unveiled at Comic-Con by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ estate. (more)

• Poorna Jagannathan and Gary Carr join Apple TV+‘s crime series based on Lars Kepler’s ‘Joona Linna’ novels. (more)

• ‘Vanderpump Villa’ is renewed for S3 at Hulu. (more)

Business 🤝

• Black Bear launches a U.S. theatrical arm led by ex-CAA dealmaker Benjamin Kramer to release up to 12 films a year. (more)

• Skydance CEO David Ellison meets with the FCC chair to urge approval of the ‘New Paramount’ merger. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Fernanda Torres and Mohammad Rasoulof join Alexander Payne on the 2025 Venice jury. (more)

• WGA urges investigation into ‘The Late Show’ cancellation, citing concerns over political pressure after Colbert’s Trump remarks. (more)

• What do 4M Americans know that you don’t? Find out with 1440—your shortcut to staying informed. (more)*

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CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead

• THURSDAY: Comic-Con kicks off 🦸‍♂️

• FRIDAY: Charter earnings announcement 📢

VIDEO VILLAGE
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MARTINI SHOT
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