👋 Good morning! UTA just signed its most cultured client yet: Parmigiano Reggiano. The actual cheese. The 1,000-year-old Italian consortium wants Hollywood placement for their wheels. We're seeing a broader trend of brands weaving themselves into storylines rather than just buying commercial breaks, and now even cheese has an agent. Picture the pitch meetings: "My client needs top billing in the charcuterie scene." Next week: Brie hires CAA.
Welcome back to The Dailies, your three-times-a-week dose of Hollywood news. Grab your coffee and we’ll get you caught up. 👇
TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…
Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott in 'Landman' S2
FILM 🎥
Netflix: Frankenstein
HBO Max: Am I OK?
Disney+: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Prime Video: Playdate
Paramount+: Finestkind
Hulu: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Apple TV: The Lost Bus
Peacock: Praise This
TV 📺
Netflix: The Beast in Me
HBO Max: The Pitt
Disney+: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Prime Video: Absentia
Paramount+: Landman
Hulu: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Apple TV: Pluribus
Peacock: All Her Fault
How last week’s releases are stacking up…
🤠 Landman: (Paramount+) S2 is off to a massive start with 12.6M US views on Episode 1 in its first 3 days, making it the platform's biggest series debut ever stateside. That’s a huge jump from S1’s debut, which opened to just a fraction of that before growing into one of Paramount+’s top performers.
🔎 The Beast in Me: (Netflix) Solid week-one with 5.7M U.S. views and 37.4M hours watched. Despite the buzzy cast, it’s still not quite a breakout—certainly not in the league of Netflix hits like ‘Untamed’ from earlier this year (12.2M views, 57.9M hours in the same window). Still, it’s a good performer for the streamer.
🧸 Playdate: (Prime Video) With 5.3M views in its first week, this one landed a little softer than expected, especially with Alan Ritchson, Amazon’s homegrown powerhouse, leading the charge. It’s not quite in the league of ‘Heads of State,’ Prime’s biggest movie of the year (9.2M), but still comfortably within their steady-performer lane.
Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Nov. 14 to Nov. 20. Data provided by Luminate.
WIDESHOT
🎬 Letterboxd, the ‘Frozen’ trio, and California…
📀 Letterboxd just turned movie reviews into a rental store. The social platform where film nerds meticulously log and rate films announced it's launching a digital video store in December, letting users rent movies directly from film pages, no subscription needed. Here's the clever part: Letterboxd's curating rentals based on what its 13M users are actually watchlisting, including festival standouts that never scored distribution deals. Instead of films dying in distribution purgatory, filmmakers could soon go direct-to-consumer through the platform where their exact audience already lives. With traditional buyers for mid-tier indie films becoming increasingly scarce, this data-driven marketplace could give those films a second chance at finding their audience.
⛄️ The ‘Frozen’ trio just landed animation's biggest payday ever. Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Idina Menzel will each pocket $60M for 'Frozen 3' and 'Frozen 4,' quadrupling their 'Frozen 2' paydays and obliterating previous animation records. For context, Tom Hanks earned $20M for 'Toy Story 4'; Eddie Murphy got $15M for 'Shrek 2.' These deals (which could push each sequel's budget north of $300M) reveal Disney's new calculus: with Marvel fatigue setting in and Pixar learning what box office disappointment feels like ('Elemental,' 'Lightyear'), the House of Mouse is paying whatever it takes to protect its guaranteed billion-dollar franchises. When you've generated $11B in merchandise alone, what's another $180M?
💸 California just wrote $313M in checks to keep Hollywood home. The state handed out tax credits to 17 TV shows: Amazon's 'Fallout' S3 scored the biggest haul at $42M, while the delayed 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' S2 landed $31.9M as a relocating production. Even 'Baywatch' is coming back to life with $21M for its Fox resurrection. This latest round comes from Governor Newsom's expanded $750M annual program (up from $330M), which now offers a 35% base credit plus another 5% for shows that relocate. The money's doing its job: 'Fallout' left New York and Utah behind, 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' is packing up to move here, and ‘Baywatch’ is returning to California after the original series’ late-run filming in Hawaii. It's a much-needed win for California's production workforce, at least for the foreseeable future.
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MARKET WATCH
🤑 First round bids for Warner Bros. Discovery are in…
Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix submitted their non-binding bids for WBD yesterday, and while we're still waiting on details about who put what on the table, the maneuvering leading up to the deadline revealed plenty:
Paramount CEO David Ellison was reportedly courting Saudi, Qatari, and UAE sovereign wealth funds in the days before the deadline, not for the money, but to block Comcast from getting them first. Paramount denied it, but sources said talks were happening. Ellison showed up at Trump's state dinner for Saudi Crown Prince MBS this week, a move that could potentially smooth his regulatory path with the Trump administration.
Netflix is trying a different approach: promising to honor theatrical releases for Warner Bros. films if they win. But industry insiders are skeptical. Ted Sarandos has repeatedly told investors that Netflix won't change its streaming-first strategy.
Meanwhile, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Blumenthal want the DOJ to scrutinize any deal hard. They're worried about creating another media giant with "even more market power to raise consumers' television costs."
Looking ahead… Warner Bros. Discovery's board could still reject all suitors and proceed with Plan B—splitting into two companies, one for streaming and studio, another for cable networks, by next year. The board wants to review bids before Thanksgiving, with a decision expected by mid-December.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Christopher Hampton will adapt Charles King’s book ‘Every Valley’ into a Walden Media film about the origins of Handel’s ‘Messiah.’ (more)
Glen Powell will lead A24’s newly titled thriller ‘How to Make a Killing,’ hitting theaters in early 2026 after previously being called ‘Huntington.’ (more)
Josh Ruben will direct Paramount’s horror film ‘Wilderness Reform,’ about a wilderness camp where teens vanish. (more)
Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki will star in Netflix’s holiday rom-com based on ‘The Bodyguard.’ (more)
A24 has cast Emma Corrin, Hunter Schafer, Havana Rose Liu and Sophie Wilde in Arkasha Stevenson’s new untitled horror film. (more)
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way is producing ‘Oz,’ a new documentary exploring the making of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with director Tom Donahue. (more)
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon are developing the Amazon MGM comedy ‘Compulsive Liar,’ based on the Quebec hit ‘Menteur.’ (more)
Fathom Entertainment will release the crime drama ‘Moses the Black’ in January 2026, starring Omar Epps, Wiz Khalifa and Quavo. (more)
Netflix has acquired April Prosser’s comedy spec ‘Smother in Law,’ with Hello Sunshine producing. (more)
TV Development 📺
Leslie Bibb will star in the six-part Cold War crime drama ‘Top of the Rock,’ her first project since ‘The White Lotus.’ (more)
Awkwafina will host Apple’s new food-travel series ‘The Unlikely Cook,’ exploring Asian American cuisine nationwide. (more)
Prime Video has ordered a new sci-fi series titled ‘Stargate,’ with franchise veteran Martin Gero returning as showrunner. (more)
Business 🤝
MLB has struck three-year rights deals with ESPN, Netflix and NBCUniversal worth about $800M annually. (more)
Taika Waititi has signed a new first-look deal with 20th TV, FX and Hulu, and is developing the Hulu fashion comedy ‘Last Look.’ (more)
Chris McCarthy is in talks to join NBCUniversal as a producer to help oversee Taylor Sheridan’s new mega-deal with the studio. (more)
Other News 🚨
Amazon has introduced AI-powered Video Recaps, generating visual “Previously on…” summaries for Prime Video series like ‘Reacher.’ (more)
Final Draft’s Black Friday Sale ends soon! Don’t miss the lowest price of the year on the Industry Standard Screenwriting Software. Sale ends November 30, 2025. (more)*
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RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?
🎥 THEATRICAL
Wicked: For Good: Musical sequel starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, directed by Jon M. Chu.
Rental Family: Comedy-drama starring Brendan Fraser, directed by Hikari.
SISU: Road to Revenge: War action sequel directed by Jalmari Helander.
📺 STREAMING
Train Dreams: (Netflix) Drama starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones.
The Family Plan 2: (Apple TV) Action comedy sequel starring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan.
🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: 'Wicked: For Good' is set for what could be the year's biggest opening weekend. Universal's musical sequel is tracking for a massive $145-175M debut, though whispers from exhibition suggest we could be looking at a $200M+ spell. Those are numbers we haven't seen since 'Deadpool & Wolverine' last summer. Pre-sales are reportedly at levels theater chains haven't witnessed in years.
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
Aaaaand... that's a wrap on this week. If you're lurking via someone else's forward, come out of the shadows. Subscribe below and join the club. 📧👇
Have an incredible weekend, team. Meet you back here Monday.
-The Dailies Team