🎬 Auteurs Save Hollywood

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👋 Good morning! Hollywood lost one of its most enigmatic visionaries yesterday as David Lynch took his final bow at 78. The four-time Oscar nominee had been battling emphysema when the recent L.A. wildfires forced him to relocate from his home. Among the flood of tributes is a delightful collection of Lynch stories—from campaigning for Laura Dern's Oscar nomination with a live cow, to calling Elisabeth Moss "Peggy" off the ‘Mad Men’ set, to his infamous 20-cups-of-instant-coffee-a-day habit.

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:

• Warner Bros. Bets on Auteurs

• LA Hits Rock Bottom

• BAFTA and WGA Nominations

• Hollywood’s New Ambassadors

• 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
🎬 Can auteurs save Warner Bros.?

In a move that shocked Hollywood last week, Warner Bros parted ways with marketing president Josh Goldstine and international distribution chief Andrew Cripps—two executives who helped turn ‘Barbie’ into a $1.44B phenomenon. The timing is striking: the studio is about to embark on its riskiest slate in years, betting $80-140M budgets on prestige filmmakers better known for intimate dramas than blockbusters.

2025 marks a pivotal moment for Warner Bros: it's the first slate fully shaped by co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy since taking over in summer 2022. They inherited a studio struggling with a depleted pipeline—a hangover from the previous regime's HBO Max-first strategy—and box office numbers that dropped 19% to $3.2B in 2024. But instead of chasing quick franchise fixes, they made a bold choice: go all-in on prestigious filmmakers.

The big swing:

Their 2025 slate reads like an arthouse theater's dream, but with tentpole budgets:

• Paul Thomas Anderson developing an untitled $140M film (his previous films averaged $20M budgets)

• Ryan Coogler making a $90M horror film (‘Sinners’)

• ‘Parasite’ director Bong Joon Ho helming an $80M sci-fi (‘Mickey 17’)

• Maggie Gyllenhaal jumping from a $5M indie to an $80M horror film (‘The Bride!’)

This isn't just about one or two prestige films—it's a wholesale strategy shift. WB is betting that:

• Pairing auteurs with stars (like DiCaprio) can bridge the art-commerce gap

• Audiences are hungry for original, high-quality content at scale

• The traditional mid-budget movie sweet spot can work at a larger scale

The catch? The math is daunting. Paul Thomas Anderson's highest-grossing film made $76M worldwide. They're giving him nearly twice that in budget alone.

Looking ahead... While James Gunn's ‘Superman’ and ‘Minecraft’ anchor their 2025 slate, WB is largely steering away from the usual franchise formula. As Warner Bros aims to rebuild its identity post-merger, they're making a fascinating throwback to their golden age of filmmaker-driven hits—betting the studio's future on acclaimed directors bringing fresh visions to the screen rather than spreading risk across their usual slate of superhero films and existing IP. WB's bet could either be remembered as a costly misstep or the moment Hollywood found its way back to original, ambitious filmmaking at scale.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Production slump, new noms, and ambassadors…

📉🎬 LA film production hit rock bottom in 2024. According to FilmLA's annual report, filming in Los Angeles County dropped to its lowest point in 30 years (outside of COVID lockdowns), with only 23,480 filming days recorded—a 5.6% drop from 2023's strike-affected numbers. While the final quarter showed signs of life with a 6.2% increase in activity, reality TV continues to abandon the city, with shows moving to cheaper locations and filming days plummeting nearly 46% compared to last year. The recent LA wildfires have made things worse, with new filming permits dropping to just one-fifth of normal levels. There is some good news: feature films, especially independent productions, saw an 18.8% boost in 2024. Governor Newsom's plan to more than double California's film tax credit to $750 million could help bring productions back, but with overall filming still down 28% from pre-pandemic levels, Hollywood's hometown faces a tough road ahead.

🏆🗳️ Four major groups just dropped nominations amid LA's wildfire delays. Here's your roundup:

• PGA (14/20 past winners align with Oscar Best Picture): ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Conclave,’ ‘Emilia Pérez’ lead ten nominees

• BAFTA: ‘Conclave’ (12 noms), ‘Emilia Pérez’ (11 noms) dominate, with strong showing for debut film ‘Kneecap’

• WGA (several top contenders were ineligible): Original Screenplay nods for ‘A Real Pain,’ ‘Anora,’ ‘Challengers,’ ‘Civil War’; Adapted nominations include ‘A Complete Unknown,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Wicked’

• ASC (American Society of Cinematographers): ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Nosferatu,’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ among cinematography nominees

• Films building momentum:

  • ‘A Complete Unknown’ hits the trifecta—WGA, PGA, and BAFTA recognition signals serious Oscar potential

  • ‘Conclave’ emerges as late-breaking force with both BAFTA and PGA backing

  • ‘The Brutalist’ maintains frontrunner status across guilds despite WGA ineligibility

  • ‘Dune: Part Two’ shows unexpected strength in both technical and top categories

Looking ahead… Oscar nominations drop Jan. 23rd, with voting closing Jan. 17th. Usually, voters have weeks to consider guild picks, but LA wildfires forced a tighter timeline. The compressed timeline could impact traditional precursor influence.

🇺🇸🎥 Meet Hollywood's new "special ambassadors": Rocky, Mad Max, and Papa Voight. In a move that's raising eyebrows across the industry, the president-elect has named Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight as "special ambassadors" to help rescue what he calls a "very troubled" Hollywood. The announcement comes just four days before inauguration. These three Trump-friendly stars will be his "eyes and ears" in Hollywood, tasked with bringing back business that's increasingly moved to foreign shores. While all three remain active—Gibson's got ‘Flight Risk’ with Wahlberg on deck, Stallone's cooking up ‘Working Man’ with Statham, and Voight just wrapped Coppola's ‘Megalopolis’—exactly how they'll transform Hollywood into its ‘Golden Age’ remains anyone's guess.

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LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Adam McKay joins Oscar-shortlisted live-action short ‘A Lien’ as executive producer. (more)

• Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and others will stream an LA wildfire relief concert featuring Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga on Jan. 30. (more)

• Netflix acquires Louis Leterrier’s sci-fi thriller ‘11817,’ starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura. (more)

• Prime Video will debut three Tom Green projects this January: a stand-up special, a documentary, and a reality series about his life. (more)

• Jean-Pierre Jeunet will direct an adaptation of Valérie Perrin’s bestseller ‘Changer l’eau des fleurs,’ starring Leïla Bekhti. (more)

• Joel McHale joins ‘Scream 7’ in the latest installment of the horror franchise. (more)

• Spike Lee is developing ‘Liberty,’ a Fleet Week dramedy written by veterans Rebecca Murga and Jalysa Conway. (more)

• Tubi will stream Super Bowl LIX live for free, marking a first for Fox’s ad-supported platform and expanding access to the Big Game. (more)

• Apple TV+ halts production on ‘The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin’ after Noel Fielding exits midway through S2 production. (more)

• Tribeca Films acquires Chazz Palminteri’s ‘A Bronx Tale: One Man Show’ for global distribution. (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• Fox renews crime series ‘Murder In A Small Town’ for S2. (more)

• ‘Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking’ is renewed for S2 at Food Network. (more)

Business 🤝

• Fox Sports secures a multi-year deal to broadcast LIV Golf. (more)

• Suzanna Makkos leaves Max to become Head of Comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals. (more)

• MrBeast’s ‘Beast Games’ becomes Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted series ever, drawing over 50M viewers globally in its first 25 days. (more)

• Iris Knobloch is re-elected as Cannes Film Festival president. (more)

Other News 🚨

• AMC Theatres enhances its free Stubs Insider program with a new Premiere GO! tier. (more)

• Sundance 2025 will debut a car-free Main Street in Park City. (more)

• Receive 2 free months of running training by participating in the 2025 RunDot Project. (more)*

  _*sponsored

RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?

🎥 THEATRICAL

• One of Them Days: R-rated buddy comedy starring Keke Palmer and Grammy-winner SZA in her acting debut.

• Wolf Man: Horror reboot from ‘Invisible Man’ director Leigh Whannell starring Christopher Abbott.

• September 5: Historical thriller chronicling the Munich Olympics massacre, starring Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro.

📺 STREAMING

• Severance: (Apple TV+) S2 of the acclaimed workplace thriller about split consciousness, starring Adam Scott and Patricia Arquette.

• SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night: (Peacock) Behind-the-scenes docuseries diving into the early days of Saturday Night Live.

• Back in Action: (Netflix) Action-comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx as former CIA spies forced back into the espionage game.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW

The MLK holiday weekend is shaping up to be a modest affair at theaters, with Universal and Blumhouse's $25M horror remake 'Wolf Man' expected to lead the pack with projections in the $17-21M range. Sony's betting on counter-programming with 'One of Them Days,' an R-rated buddy comedy starring Keke Palmer and Grammy winner SZA in her film debut, targeting $8-13M. Last week's champ 'Den of Thieves 2' should hang in there with around $8-9M. While the LA wildfires forced both new releases to cancel their premieres, box office analysts aren't expecting any significant impact on overall numbers.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments