🎬 Changing PR Forever

👋 Good morning! James Cameron isn't letting AI anywhere near Pandora. The 'Avatar' director revealed that the upcoming third installment, 'Avatar: Fire and Ash,' will open with a pointed disclaimer: "No generative AI was used in the making of this movie." Seems even with all that cutting-edge tech, Cameron's keeping it strictly human.

Whether you're a seasoned subscriber or a new arrival, we're thrilled to have you here. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we'll deliver the most important industry scoops directly to your inbox.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Box Office Breakdown

• Awards Season’s Last Call

• PR in Hollywood’s Changing

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Call Sheet: The week ahead

• Martini Shot 🍸

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Captain America’ tops, but drops…

1. 🦸‍♂️ Captain America: Brave New World: $28.2M domestic weekend (-68%), $141.2M domestic total, $289.4M global. All eyes were on Marvel's latest to see if it could avoid recent MCU second-weekend plunges—spoiler alert: it couldn't. The -68% drop lands right between 'Ant-Man 3' (-70%) and 'The Marvels' (-78%), though staying ahead of the latter's dismal totals.

2. 🙈 The Monkey: $14.2M domestic opening. Neon's Stephen King adaptation has the biggest horror debut of 2025 so far. Director Osgood Perkins' second-biggest opener behind ‘Longlegs.’

3. 🐻 Paddington in Peru: $6.5M domestic weekend (-49%), $25.2M domestic total, $150.2M global. Our favorite marmalade enthusiast needs more sandwich sales to catch up to previous entries' $290M+ global hauls.

4. 🐕 Dog Man: $5.9M domestic weekend (-40%), $78.7M domestic total, $104M global.

5. 🐲 Ne Zha 2: $3M domestic weekend (-59%), $14.8M domestic total, $1.826B global. Chinese animation sensation just dethroned ‘Inside Out 2’ ($1.699B) as highest-grossing animated film ever.

6. 😍 Heart Eyes: $2.85M domestic weekend (-71%), $26.7M domestic total. Romance-horror hybrid taking a Valentine's hangover tumble.

7. 🦁 Mufasa: The Lion King: $2.5M domestic weekend (-41%), $245.3M domestic total, $698.7M global.

8. 🙏 The Unbreakable Boy: $2.5M domestic opening. Faith-based Zachary Levi drama scores typical "A" CinemaScore despite critics' shrugs (48% on Rotten Tomatoes).

9. 👯‍♀️ One of Them Days: $1.41M domestic weekend (-53%), $46M domestic total. Sony's comedy drama showing decent legs in week six.

10. 💔 Love Hurts: $1.1M domestic weekend (-74%), $14.5M domestic total. Universal's romance stumbling hard in its third frame.

The Big Picture: Hollywood powered through another sleepy February frame, with the box office hitting $77.1M—up 21.5% from 2024. No major tentpoles on the horizon until Disney's ‘Snow White’ on March 21st.

CLOSEUP
🏆 Hollywood took its last awards lap before the Oscars…

Two major Oscar precursors unfolded this weekend: The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards, held in their traditional tent on Santa Monica Beach (hosted by Aidy Bryant), and the SAG Awards at the Shrine Auditorium (with Kristen Bell at the helm).

Spirit Awards:

• Neon's indie sensation ‘Anora’ swept Saturday's beachside ceremony with three major wins: Best Feature, Best Director (Sean Baker), and Lead Performance (Mikey Madison).

• Other key Spirit victories included Kieran Culkin (‘A Real Pain’) for Supporting Performance and Sean Wang's ‘Didi’ taking both First Feature and First Screenplay.

• See the full list of winners here. 👈👀

SAG Awards:

• ‘Conclave’ won Outstanding Cast (SAG's top prize)

• Demi Moore (‘The Substance’) strengthened her Best Actress frontrunner status

• Kieran Culkin scored his second trophy of the weekend

• Timothée Chalamet (‘A Complete Unknown’) and Zoe Saldaña (‘Emilia Pérez’) claimed the other acting prizes

• See the full list of winners here. 👈👀

What it all means for Oscar night? 

While Academy voting closed on Feb. 18 (before these ceremonies), these wins may reflect industry sentiment that was already in play when Oscar voters cast their ballots. Here are the key races to watch:

Best Picture Battle:

• ‘Conclave’ has mounted a serious late-season surge, claiming both the SAG ensemble award and BAFTA's top prize—echoing ‘Parasite's’ momentum shift in 2020.

• History favors SAG's pick—four of the last five ensemble winners went on to take Best Picture.

• ‘Anora’ maintains strong support from the indie community with its Spirit Awards dominance.

Acting Frontrunners:

• Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin appears unstoppable for ‘A Real Pain’ after winning both Spirit and SAG awards this weekend.

• Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña has emerged as the clear favorite for ‘Emilia Pérez’ following her SAG victory.

• Actor: Timothée Chalamet’s SAG win puts him in the running against frontrunner Adrien Brody.

• Actress: The category remains wide open after a split weekend—Demi Moore took SAG for ‘The Substance,’ but Mikey Madison's Spirit Award win (following her recent BAFTA triumph) suggests the race isn't settled.

Looking ahead… The Academy Awards ceremony takes place this Sunday, Mar. 2nd at the Dolby Theatre, with Conan O'Brien hosting his first Oscars. Make your predictions—download our 2025 Oscar ballot here. 👈🗳️

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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CLOSEUP
📰 PR in Hollywood is changing…

Hollywood's image managers are suddenly the ones needing image management. A nasty feud between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over their film ‘It Ends With Us’ has erupted into uncharted territory: publicists getting sued for doing what used to be considered their everyday job.

The backstory: During production of their upcoming film ‘It Ends With Us,’ tensions between Lively and Baldoni escalated into matching lawsuits. But instead of just suing each other, they're targeting each other's publicity teams—turning standard PR tactics into potential legal liabilities.

The text drama: It started with a simple damage control move. When a Daily Mail reporter was about to publish that Lively was "difficult" on set, her publicist Leslie Sloane sent what would normally be a routine text, suggesting the cast actually had issues with Baldoni instead. The reporter changed the story—and now Baldoni is suing Sloane for damaging his reputation. Meanwhile, Lively's team discovered private messages from Baldoni's publicity team calling him "pompous"—leading to her countersuit. These cases are the first time such standard PR moves have become legal ammunition.

The Ripple Effects: Hollywood PR has always been a two-tier system. Big agencies charge A-listers around $10,000 monthly and include legal protection in their contracts. But independent publicists, who typically charge half that, work without any legal protection for themselves. And it's these boutique PR firms that will likely take the brunt of the fallout from the Baldoni-Lively battle:

• Boutique firms can't maintain their current rate without legal protection—they'd be sitting ducks for lawsuits. But adding legal coverage would force them to double prices and lose clients.

• Hungry new publicists are making it worse, offering deep discounts and working without protection just to build their client lists

• Meanwhile, big PR firms with built-in legal protection keep cruising along

• Some stars are now avoiding publicists entirely—worried it makes them look like they're hiding something

The result? The industry is splitting into two lanes: legally bulletproof PR for the wealthy, and risky, unprotected PR for everyone else. It's the boutique firms caught in the middle that are feeling the most pain.

LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Delroy Lindo joins Legendary’s next ‘Godzilla x Kong’ movie as Monarch’s latest power player. (more)

• Michelle Williams and Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in ‘A Place in Hell,’ a legal thriller from director Chloe Domont. (more)

• Damien Chazelle’s Evel Knievel biopic, reportedly starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is set to begin filming this summer. (more)

• Nina Dobrev joins Russell Crowe in ‘Bear Country,’ an action thriller about crime, cartels, and a Bonnie-and-Clyde-inspired bank teller. (more)

• James Watkins will direct DC Studios’ ‘Clayface,’ bringing Batman’s shape-shifting villain to the big screen on Sept. 11, 2026. (more)

• Kumail Nanjiani and Molly Shannon join Bobby Farrelly’s teen road trip comedy ‘Driver’s Ed,’ set to begin filming in March. (more)

• Natalie Martinez and Brittany Ishibashi join Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s Apple TV+ comedy series. (more)

• Netflix is leading a $10M+ bidding war for ‘Selena y Los Dinos,’ a Sundance documentary celebrating Selena Quintanilla’s legacy. (more)

• MSNBC is shaking up primetime, canceling Joy Reid’s ‘The ReidOut’ and replacing Alex Wagner. (more)

• ‘Spider-Man 4,’ directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, has been delayed to July 31, 2026, giving it space from Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey.’ (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• ‘The Sticky’ is cancelled at Amazon after one season. (more)

Business 🤝

• Gerry Rich resigns as Amazon MGM’s head of theatrical marketing after six years, leaving behind a legacy of major film campaigns. (more)

• Senator Elizabeth Warren urges the DOJ to investigate Disney’s Fubo acquisition, calling it an anticompetitive move. (more)

Other News 🚨

• The Berlin Film Festival wrapped yesterday. See a list of winners here.

• Netflix's ‘The Six Triple Eight’ swept the NAACP Image Awards with five wins including Best Motion Picture. (more)

• ‘A Complete Unknown’ took the top prize at the Cinema Audio Society Awards, potentially boosting its chances in Oscar's sound category. (more)

• Sick of the news? Join 4M Americans who get clear, unbiased updates from 1440's free newsletter. (more)*

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INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead…

• THURSDAY: Warner Bros. Discovery earnings announcement 📊

• SUNDAY: The 97th Academy Awards 🏆

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments