🎬 Bid Rejected

👋 Good morning! Yorgos Lanthimos just became AI's most unexpected supporter, but not for making movies. The 'Poor Things' director told BFI London Film Festival he'd happily send an AI avatar to do press tours instead of him. "Do I have to say the same thing a thousand times?" he joked, exhausted by the six-month promotional marathons that follow every film. His new Emma Stone thriller 'Bugonia' is already generating Oscar buzz, so that press tour he's dreading might be longer than expected.

Happy Monday. We’re back with your post-weekend debrief. Box office numbers are in, deals were made (and not made), and Hollywood kept moving while you were unplugged. Let’s get into it. 👇

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Tron’ error 404: Audience not found…

1. 🏍️ Tron: Ares: 🆕 $33.5M domestic opening, $60.5M global debut, $180M budget. Disney's 'Tron' reboot landed well below the $40M-$45M projections, failing to connect with audiences beyond its core male demographic despite 67% of tickets coming from premium formats.

2. 🏠 Roofman: 🆕 $8M domestic opening, $19M budget. Channing Tatum's true story about a thief hiding in Toys "R" Us landed on the lower end of expectations, but a decent start nonetheless.

3. 🧨 One Battle After Another: (Wk 3) $6.7M domestic weekend (-39%), $54.5M domestic total, $138M global, $130M budget.

4. 🏠 Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie: (Wk 3) $3.35M domestic weekend (-37%), $26.4M domestic total, $46M global, $32M budget.

5. 🔥 Soul on Fire: 🆕 $3M domestic opening, $3M budget. Faith-based drama about a burn survivor scores an A CinemaScore.

6. 👻 The Conjuring: Last Rites: (Wk 6) $2.9M domestic weekend (-29%), $172.4M domestic total, $473M global, $55M budget.

7. 👹 Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle: (Wk 5) $2.25M domestic weekend (-37%), $128.6M domestic total, $637M global, $20M budget. The anime juggernaut just became the highest-grossing non-English film ever in the U.S., passing 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's' $128.1M record.

8. 🪨 The Smashing Machine: (Wk 2) $1.8M domestic weekend (-69%), $9.8M domestic total, $11.3M global, $50M budget. The Rock's R-rated A24 gamble is having a tough time at the box office with a pretty hefty second weekend drop.

9. 😱 The Strangers: Chapter 2: (Wk 3) $1.55M domestic weekend (-45%), $13.5M domestic total, $15.2M global, $8.5M budget.

10. 🐕 Good Boy: (Wk 2) $1.36M domestic weekend (-42%), $4.86M domestic total, $2.3M budget.

The bigger picture: Overall it was a $70.4M weekend, down 14.6% from last week and 3.7% from the same frame last year. Still, 2025 is holding at 4% ahead of 2024 year-to-date. Next weekend's slate of 'Black Phone 2,' 'Good Fortune,' and 'After the Hunt' should keep pace with last year's numbers, possibly with a slight edge if the latter two overperform.

CLOSEUP
📺 10,000 TV execs just landed in Cannes…

MIPCOM, the world's biggest TV marketplace, kicks off today in Cannes. Through Thursday, over 10,000 executives from 100+ countries will pack into the Palais and beachfront pavilions along the Riviera to buy, sell, and license content. Since 1985, MIPCOM has been the industry's crystal ball. It's the place where streaming first gained traction, where networks discover their next hits, and where you can spot what's coming next in entertainment.

This year brings major changes. MIPCOM director Lucy Smith calls it "the biggest generational shift" in the market's history as two major forces are reshaping the festival:

YouTube and creators are taking center stage…

Creators were outsiders to the TV industry just a few years ago, but now they're a main attraction. This year, the festival created a Creator Economy Summit and transformed its Producers Hub into a Creative Hub that welcomes digital creators alongside traditional producers.

Meanwhile, YouTube has claimed an entire floor of the Palais with workshops and keynotes for its 20th anniversary. TikTok, Snapchat, and Meta executives are participating too. Their presence shows how radically distribution has changed—storytelling now spans everything from 10-second viral clips to high-end dramas, and the industry is learning to monetize all of it.

Brands have become content producers…

MIPCOM launched a Brand Storytelling Marketplace this year with Mattel, P&G, and Lego as headliners. It’s a response to a recent shift where brands are expanding beyond traditional advertising into financing and creating actual content—a savvier form of marketing that engages audiences for hours, not seconds. Mattel's ‘Barbie’ didn't just sell toys; it made $1.4B at the box office. Now every brand wants that kind of cultural impact. For cash-strapped studios facing streaming subscription plateaus, these partnerships are proving to be smart ways to offset production costs.

The bigger picture: MIPCOM is embracing change, blending elements that echo Cannes Lions (the advertising festival down the street in June) with its traditional TV dealmaking. The next few days will reveal if this broader approach is the festival's future.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Paramount & WBD, Duolingo, and Netflix…

💸 Warner Bros. Discovery just rejected Paramount's takeover bid. WBD reportedly turned down Paramount Skydance's initial offer of around $20 per share, even though WBD's stock is currently trading at just $17. Paramount CEO David Ellison isn't giving up though. He's reportedly weighing his options: raise the offer, bypass the board and go directly to shareholders, or bring in Apollo Global Management for extra financing (the two have already been talking). The deal would require roughly $50B in financing plus assuming WBD's $30B in debt. Meanwhile, WBD CEO David Zaslav believes his streaming and studio assets will be worth more after completing his planned company split next year, which would separate them from declining cable networks.

🦉 Duolingo's making anime now. Duolingo (yes, the language-learning app) just dropped 'The Final Test,' a five-episode anime series produced with Titmouse, the studio behind 'Big Mouth' and 'Star Trek: Lower Decks.' The episodes follow the origin story of Duo, that persistent green owl who guilts you about missed lessons. They're just 60-second episodes, but the move speaks to two big trends: anime's exploding global popularity and brands realizing that creating legitimate entertainment might be the smartest marketing play in an age when everyone skips ads. Similar recent moves: Dick's Sporting Goods launched its own entertainment studio, Gushers released a horror short with Bradley Whitford, and Angry Orchard partnered with Blumhouse on a 'Friday the 13th' short.

🇫🇷 Netflix is building its own stop-motion training lab in Paris. The streaming giant teamed up with Guillermo del Toro to create a stop-motion studio at Gobelins, France's elite animation school. They're calling it a living laboratory where animators will learn the craft and experiment with new techniques. The timing works out nicely for del Toro, who's gearing up for his second Netflix stop-motion project, 'The Buried Giant,' and says he might bring in students as apprentices. During the Paris announcement, del Toro called stop-motion "AI-proof," comparing it to the slow food movement where handmade craftsmanship beats speed. Netflix has been experimenting with AI in other areas, but with this project, they're backing del Toro's belief that some things simply can't be automated.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
🚨Your friends are worried about you…

They've noticed you can explain the entire Paramount-Skydance merger but go silent when someone mentions "the Fed." You know which studios are bleeding money but not why your grocery bill keeps climbing.

Morning Brew speaks human. Business, finance, tech, world news—all translated from Corporate into English.

STATISTIC
📼 Old movies are now streamers’ moneymakers…

During the streaming wars, platforms poured billions into original content. But new Parrot Analytics data reveals streamers are finally waking up to what actually generates ROI across Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Max:

• Movies generated 50% of streaming revenue in 2024, up from just 27% in 2022

• Licensed library titles now account for two-thirds of all movie revenue

• Netflix reports that 4-year-old films they license still pull significant viewership today

• Licensing an existing studio movie costs a fraction of producing a new original series but delivers higher viewer retention

• The shift is so dramatic that streamers are prioritizing licensing older films over creating expensive original shows

The bottom line... Turns out subscribers basically just want to rewatch 'Moana' on Saturday night. Licensing a studio's old movie for $5M keeps more subscribers than spending $100M on a new series, which explains why every streamer is suddenly bidding on movie catalogs and greenlighting way fewer originals than a few years ago.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Rian Johnson says he’s taking a break from ‘Knives Out’ to write an original script before returning to the Netflix franchise. (more)

• Netflix has landed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s untitled AI thriller, with Rachel McAdams set to star and Gordon-Levitt directing and co-writing. (more)

• Brittany O’Grady joins Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan in the next ‘Jumanji’ film. (more)

• Sky has acquired A24 and Peacock’s ‘Friday the 13th’ prequel series ‘Crystal Lake,’ set to debut in the UK and Ireland next year. (more)

• New Line is developing ‘Mortal Kombat III,’ with Jeremy Slater returning to write the sequel following his work on ‘Mortal Kombat II.’ (more)

• Jim Caviezel won’t reprise his role as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s two-part sequel ‘Resurrection of the Christ,’ set for theatrical release in 2027. (more)

• Megan Fox joins ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ as Toy Chica. (more)

• Lady Gaga will appear in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ joining Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt in the fashion-film sequel set for May 2026. (more)

• Roadside acquires ‘H Is for Hawk’ starring Claire Foy, planning a December release. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Lionsgate Television is developing a YA series based on Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ bestselling ‘The Inheritance Games,’ with Temple Hill producing. (more)

• Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmons will star in the six-part geopolitical thriller ‘Embassy,’ produced by AGC Television and set to film in 2026. (more)

• C-SPAN launches ‘Ceasefire,’ a new series promoting civil political dialogue, debuting with Mike Pence and Rahm Emanuel. (more)

• ‘X-Men ‘97’ is renewed for S3 ahead of its S2 release. (more)

• ‘Yellowjackets’ will end with S4 at Paramount+. (more)

• ‘Countdown’ and ‘Butterfly’ are cancelled at Prime Video after S1. (more)

Business 🤝

• Kristin Dolan has extended her contract as AMC Networks CEO through 2028, continuing to steer the company’s streaming-focused strategy. (more)

• Bari Weiss asked CBS News staff to share details about their work and feedback in an introductory memo, prompting the WGA to advise employees not to respond until the company clarifies the memo’s purpose. (more)

• Instagram is exploring a dedicated TV app to expand its video reach and compete more directly with YouTube. (more)

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments