🎬 A Tale of Two Screens

👋 Good morning! Nicolas Cage is about to get even more... well, Nicolas Cage. The Metrograph theater in NYC just announced ‘Nicolas Uncaged,’ a 10-film retrospective running Nov. 8 through Jan. 2 that celebrates Hollywood's most delightfully unhinged leading man. From eating cockroaches to hunting truffles with a pig, they're screening everything from ‘Con Air’ to ‘Moonstruck’ in glorious 35mm.

Welcome aboard the Dailies. As you sip your morning brew, we’ll get you caught up with the fast-paced world of Hollywood—no need to chase down a newsstand, we’ve got everything you need right here.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Q3 Earnings Recaps

• Election Night Viewership Shifts

• China’s Youth Abandon Theaters

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Release Radar: What to watch this weekend

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, it’s Friday, so let’s take a look at what people were watching this week… 👀

TOP STREAMED
📊 What U.S. audiences were watching this week…

CLOSEUP
📊 Q3 numbers are in…

As Hollywood's biggest players reveal their Q3 financials, we’re getting a fascinating snapshot of where the industry stands. Here's the TL;DR on three major players who dropped their earnings this week:

Warner Bros. Discovery

After playing peek-a-boo with profitability, the entertainment giant has hit a major milestone: its first-ever quarterly net profit of $135M.

• 💰 Show Me The Money! WBD just joined the profitable streaming club with its first quarterly net profit of $135M. Though ironically, this comes with their lowest quarterly revenue ($9.6B) since the company's birth in 2022.

• 🔥 Streaming's Hot Streak: Max and Discovery+ raked in $289M in earnings this quarter, nearly tripling last year's $111M performance.

• 📈 Subscriber Party: Their streaming services added 7M new subscribers to reach 110M worldwide, though most new viewers came from international markets where the Olympics gave them a boost.

• ✨ Future's Looking Bright: CEO Zaslav's feeling bold, saying they'll "meaningfully exceed" their $1B streaming profit goal for 2025.

• 🎬 Plot Twists Ahead: Get ready for some Netflix-style password crackdown drama, plus more international expansion. Zaslav also made comments suggesting that a Trump administration in 2025 might be more friendly to media mergers, making it easier for entertainment companies to combine forces.

Lionsgate

It's giving us major "this is fine" meme vibes. The studio's been on an epic losing streak:

• 💸 The Big Ouch: Lionsgate took a massive $163M hit this quarter, and honestly, looking at their slate, we can see why...

• 🎬 Box Office Nightmare: They released seven movies in nine weeks, and none hit. The highlights:

  • ‘Borderlands’: $32.9M globally (on a $110M budget—math isn't mathing)

  • ‘The Crow’ reboot: barely flew to $23.7M

  • ‘Never Let Go’: should've let go at $16.2M

  • ‘The Killer's Game’: killed itself at $5.9M. And it only got worse from there with several movies making less than $10M each.

• 🤖 AI to the Rescue? The company claims their filmmakers are already happily using their new AI tools after recently partnering with Runway AI.

• 🎯 The Comeback Plan : They're pinning their hopes on 2025 with some familiar names—a ‘John Wick’ spinoff called ‘Ballerina,’ another ‘Saw’ movie (because there aren’t enough), and a Michael Jackson biopic. Plus, they're finally splitting from Starz to focus on making movies and shows without being dragged down by cable TV problems.

AMC Theaters

While AMC's Q3 numbers might make you want to grab some popcorn and cry into it, CEO Adam Aron is playing the optimist card:

• 📉 Box Office Drama: The theater chain's revenue dropped to $1.34B and lost $20.7M this quarter, a big switch from making $12.3M profit last year. Even big movies like ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ couldn't fill enough seats.

• 🪑 Empty Seats Blues: Total moviegoers dropped by 11.5% to 65M people. U.S. attendance fell from 51.5M to 46.9M, and international markets saw even bigger drops. At least people are still buying lots of popcorn and snacks!

• 🎯 The Big Upgrade Plan: AMC's betting $1.5B over the next 4-7 years on fancy new theaters with massive screens and laser projectors (pew pew!). They're hoping better technology will bring audiences back.

• 🎬 More Movies Coming? Aron says Hollywood studios are promising to release way more movies in 2025 (one studio even claims they'll release 38!). Though after Lionsgate's string of flops this year, maybe quantity isn't everything...

• 📊 Stock Market Soap Opera: Remember when AMC was a meme stock trading at $35? Yeah, now it's at $4.30. Those Reddit diamond hands must be getting heavy! 💎

The industry's clearly at a crossroads: streaming seems to be finding its footing, traditional movies are hit-or-miss (mostly miss lately), and theaters are desperately trying to reinvent themselves. With promises of more content, potential mergers, and theater upgrades on the horizon, 2025 could be Hollywood's most interesting plot twist yet.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Election night viewership and the Chinese market…

📺📊 Election night viewership tells a tale of two screens. Traditional networks took a brutal hit, with viewership plunging 26% from 2020—just 42.29M viewers across 18 networks marked the lowest turnout since Nielsen started counting in 2000. But while cable news struggled (CNN dropped 46%, Fox News 27%), YouTube emerged as the new political powerhouse, commanding 60.7M streaming hours and peak viewership of 9.14M. This isn't just another cord-cutting story; it's a complete rewiring of how Americans follow politics. Nearly one-third now regularly get their news from YouTube, up from 23% in 2020. Fox News still led TV coverage with 10.32M viewers, but the platform accounting for 10.6% of all TV streaming clearly signals changing times. As networks scramble to keep up, YouTube's becoming the new election HQ—whether you're watching on your phone, couch, or anything in between.

🎬📉 China's youth are abandoning theaters, and Hollywood's sweating. What was once a $9.2B cash cow that could make blockbusters rain money is now in serious trouble—total Chinese box office revenue is down 22% this year and heading toward a brutal 38% drop from pre-COVID peaks. The average moviegoer age has jumped from 22 to 26 as Gen Z ditches theaters for Douyin (China's TikTok) and Bilibili (think YouTube meets anime), while sky-high youth unemployment (17%+) isn't exactly encouraging splurging on movie tickets. For Hollywood studios, which used to rake in $2.5B from Chinese audiences back in 2019, revenues have nosedived 68% to a measly $797M—and only monster movies are making any real noise. This isn't just a local headache—it's threatening a crucial money stream that studios counted on to justify those massive blockbuster budgets. With 80,000 screens collecting dust and young viewers permanently changing habits, Hollywood might need a whole new gameplan.

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LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Samuel L. Jackson, Andra Day, and Edgar Ramirez will star in action comedy ‘The Honest Liar.’ (more)

• Lil Rel Howery will make his directorial debut in the comedy-horror ‘Haunted Heist,’ starring alongside Tiffany Haddish, with filming set to begin in January 2025. (more)

• Minnie Driver and Patrick Dempsey are in talks to star in ‘The Household Guide to Dying’, a dramedy directed by Emma-Kate Croghan. (more)

• Scott Adkins joins Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Netflix’s crime thriller ‘RIP.’ (more)

• Amazon MGM Studios is developing a ‘Mass Effect’ TV series, with ‘F9’ writer Daniel Casey set to write and executive produce the adaptation. (more)

• Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the animated film ‘Sneaks,’ voiced by Anthony Mackie, Laurence Fishburne, and Chloe Bailey. (more)

• Lucasfilm has signed Simon Kinberg to write and produce a new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, marking a fresh saga rather than a continuation of the Skywalker storyline. (more)

• Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic ‘Michael’ shifts its release date to Oct. 3, 2025. (more)

• Felix Mallard will star in the home invasion thriller ‘Nest’, where a young family faces terror from a deadly species of giant spider. (more)

Business 🤝

• Tennis Channel is launching a new direct-to-consumer streaming service on Nov. 12, combining its 24-hour network with extensive live and on-demand tennis coverage (more)

• Edith Mendoza Alva has left her role as Director of Comedy at Netflix after three years. (more)

Other news 🚨

• Film preservationists have petitioned AMPAS to reinstate 16 recently laid-off archival staff, arguing that the cuts undermine essential preservation work crucial to maintaining cinematic history. (more)

• Mubi has canceled its annual Istanbul festival after local authorities banned Luca Guadagnino’s film ‘Queer,’ citing it as a “threat to public peace.” (more)

RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Heretic: Horror-thriller from A24 starring Hugh Grant as a sinister Englishman who lures two Mormon missionaries into a twisted game of faith and survival.

• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: Family holiday comedy starring Judy Greer and Pete Holmes.

• Elevation: Post-apocalyptic action thriller starring Anthony Mackie and Morena Baccarin, directed by George Nolfi.

• Small Things Like These: Historical drama starring Cillian Murphy, produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

• Weekend in Taipei: Action thriller from Luc Besson's EuropaCorp starring Luke Evans and Gwei Lun-mei.

📺 STREAMING

• The Piano Lesson: (Netflix) August Wilson adaptation starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, directed by Malcolm Washington.

• Meet Me After Christmas: (Netflix) Holiday rom-com starring Christina Milian and Kofi Siriboe.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW

‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is headed for a third straight victory with $12-16M, not exactly matching its predecessors but enough to crack $100M domestic. A24's buzzy horror entry ‘Heretic’ is aiming for $8-12M—and with killer reviews (93% on RT) in a year where horror's been full of surprises, don't be shocked if it exceeds expectations. ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ from Lionsgate hopes to unwrap $8-12M, though launching holiday cheer pre-Thanksgiving is always tricky. The total frame looking light at around $45-65M.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments