🎬 Breakup Plans

👋 Good morning! 72 cameos. That's how many famous faces Adam Sandler packed into 'Happy Gilmore 2', which hit Netflix last week. To put that in perspective, he outdid some of Hollywood's most famously cameo-heavy movies—Robert Altman's 'The Player' had around 60, while 'Anchorman 2' and 'This Is the End' each managed about 20. From rappers to athletes to his own family members, Sandler basically turned his Rolodex into a shooting schedule.

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CLOSEUP
🪚 WBD just revealed its breakup plans…

Warner Bros Discovery revealed the post-breakup plan for its 2026 split, and let’s just say they're not winning any creativity awards for the names. The streaming and studios division keeps "Warner Bros." while the cable networks become "Discovery Global." Basically a corporate mind wipe pretending the whole merger never happened.

The leadership shuffle reads like a game of musical chairs where everyone mostly stays in their seat. David Zaslav keeps running Warner Bros., while CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels gets promoted to run Discovery Global. Casey Bloys stays with HBO, Channing Dungey keeps TV, and the DC duo of James Gunn and Peter Safran are staying put as well. Here’s how they’re splitting the assets:

• Warner Bros. gets the shiny toys: HBO, HBO Max, DC Studios, film libraries, and gaming

• Discovery Global inherits the traditional TV assets: CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery channels, and Discovery+

Warner Bros. will actually be the smaller sibling post-split, with roughly $4.3B in quarterly revenue versus Discovery Global's $4.8B based on WBD's Q1 2025 financials. That makes a much more digestible acquisition target for any deep-pocketed buyers in the future.

The bigger picture: Three years, thousands of layoffs, and a 45% stock drop later, we're essentially hitting command+z on one of the biggest media mergers ever. The $43B deal that was supposed to create a streaming giant is getting undone because sometimes the best strategy is admitting when something isn't working—even if it costs billions to undo.

Looking ahead… This conscious uncoupling completes by mid-2026. Both companies will trade separately on the stock market, with Warner Bros. focusing on content creation and streaming growth (HBO Max is expanding to top European markets in 2026), while Discovery Global tries to squeeze profits from the declining cable business.

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WIDESHOT
🎬 IMAX, Fortnite, and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’…

🍿 IMAX is putting AI films on the big screen. The exhibition giant's teaming up with Runway AI to screen ten shorts from Runway's 2025 AI Film Festival across ten major U.S. cities from Aug. 17-20. The festival drew 6,000 submissions and will showcase AI-generated films at IMAX theaters in LA, NYC, Chicago, and beyond. It's a bold move for IMAX, which says it's "excited to open our aperture" to AI creators. The deal comes as IMAX is riding high: Q2 profits surged 139% with the company snagging 20% of opening weekend box office for recent major releases like ‘F1’ and ‘Mission: Impossible.’ Meanwhile, Runway, which already has deals with AMC Networks and Lionsgate, is positioning itself as Hollywood's go-to AI partner as the industry grapples with integrating these tools into traditional filmmaking.

🎮 Studios are marketing movies in Fortnite now. Warner Bros. is dropping elaborate tie-ins in the mega-popular battle royale game for both upcoming horror movie 'Weapons' and Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another,' basically transforming game modes into movie-themed experiences. This isn't Warner Bros.' first Fortnite rodeo: they ran a similar campaign for 'Sinners' earlier this year, which went on to bank $366M worldwide. Sure, reaching Gen Z viewers through gaming makes sense, but it's an interesting choice for a Paul Thomas Anderson film—his audience typically skews older and artsy. The move shows how splintered audiences have become: when you can't reach everyone in one place anymore, Fortnite campaigns are just becoming part of baseline marketing.

🎤 An animated K-pop film is Netflix's biggest surprise hit. The streamer's 'KPop Demon Hunters' has been an absolute phenomenon, becoming the first Netflix original to peak in week five with 25.8M views while its fictional girl group topped Billboard charts ahead of actual K-pop stars. Netflix's been saying they want to beat Disney at family animation since as far back as 2021, but the results have been pretty meh. Until now. The K-pop formula gives Netflix its first viable family animation franchise tapping into the genre's global popularity while living on Spotify and TikTok through its soundtrack. It's not just about chasing Disney anymore. Netflix needs to hook Gen Alpha before they default to YouTube, which has become the streamer's biggest competition for young eyeballs. Demon-hunting pop stars might just do the trick.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Dean Fleischer camp is pitching a new supernatural romance, after his ‘Lilo & Stitch’ remake crossed $1B. (more)

• Celine Song will write a ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ sequel, now in early development at Sony Pictures. (more)

• Chris Rock is directing and starring in an A24 drama led by Rosalind Eleazar, with Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, and Anna Kendrick joining the cast. (more)

• Hulu is adapting true-crime audiobook ‘Midnight Son’ into docuseries ‘Blood & Myth,’ premiering Sept. 4. (more)

• Sony Animation’s ‘Goat’ adds Jennifer Hudson, Aaron Pierre, Jelly Roll, and Ayesha Curry to its star-studded voice cast ahead of its 2026 release. (more)

• Sterling K. Brown, Da’Vine Joy Randolph & Winston Duke may star in a limited series of ‘The Trees,’ now sparking a bidding war. (more)

• Pierce Brosnan stars in boxing biopic ‘Giant,’ acquired by Vertical and exec produced by Sylvester Stallone. (more)

• ‘A Place in Hell’ adds Danny Huston, Arturo Castro, Kyle Mooney, Dani Oliveros, and Esther McGregor to Chloe Domont’s Neon thriller. (more)

• Lluís Quílez will direct Spanish-language thriller ‘Elegido’, inspired by the 2000 El Ejido race riots, for ‘Sorry, Baby’ producer Frank Ariza. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Starz is nearing a deal for a scripted series about Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter gambling scandal, penned by ‘Air’ writer Alex Convery. (more)

• Jack Reynor joins Rachel Brosnahan in S2 of Apple TV+’s ‘Presumed Innocent,’ based on upcoming novel ‘Dissection of a Murder.’ (more)

• Tracy Spiridakos will lead USA Network’s new crime drama ‘Anna Pigeon,’ based on Nevada Barr’s novels and set to premiere in 2026. (more)

• Sonay Hoffman and Tommy Benjamin are developing medical drama ‘God Complex’ at Amazon as they launch new banner Story Well Pictures. (more)

• Will Smith will exit Apple TV+’s ‘Slow Horses’ after S5, with new writers leading S6 and S7. (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• ‘The Gilded Age’ has been renewed for S4 at HBO following its strongest ratings run yet. (more)

• ‘Untamed’ is renewed for S2 at Netflix. (more)

Business 🤝

• Josh Greenstein is expected to exit Sony for Paramount–Skydance, with Peter Kang likely to be promoted to President of Production. (more)

• Fubo now expects its merger with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV to close by early 2026, sooner than originally anticipated. (more)

• Glenn Gainor is exiting Amazon MGM Studios to launch Hollywood Ventures Group with Sandy Climan, aiming to develop global film and TV content. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Ad-Supported TV accounted for 73.6% of viewing in Q2 2025, driven by streaming hits like ‘Love Island,’ ‘Squid Game,’ and ‘Ginny & Georgia.’ (more)

• Like The Dailies? Meet Morning Brew: A free, witty, 5-minute read on business, finance, and tech. Over 4M professionals swear by it—your inbox will thank you. (more)*

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