🎬 Channel Surfing Isn't Dead

👋 Good morning! Turns out writing a body horror film about beauty-obsessed socialites requires throwing the screenwriting rulebook out the window. Coralie Fargeat's boundary-pushing script for ‘The Substance’ has hit the internet, and its formatting is as unconventional as its plot. Check it out here. 👈👀

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:

• AI Video Race Heats Up

• Channel Surfing Returns

• ESPN Breaks Free

• TikTok Meets Nielsen

• 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
 🤖 The race for AI video generation supremacy is on…

We’ve already heard quite a bit about OpenAI’s Sora, a text-to-video AI model that’s sent shockwaves through Hollywood with its eerily realistic video generation capabilities. This week, other tech giants are answering back with their own AI video tools:

Google has launched Veo on its Vertex AI platform, delivering high-quality 1080p videos that are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from human-created content. To prevent these AI videos from being used to spread misinformation, Google's adding a digital fingerprint that proves they're AI-made.

Not to be outdone, Amazon has unveiled its "Nova" suite of AI models, including Nova Reel, which can currently generate 6-second videos. The company plans to extend this to 2-minute clips in the coming months, positioning itself for a variety of commercial applications.

Why it matters now…

• 86% of companies using generative AI report revenue growth

• Major brands like Coca-Cola and Vodafone are already testing AI-generated content

• Hollywood tech heads are chomping at the bit to play with these tools

• The AI train's leaving the station—ready or not

While AI sparks fears of creative job losses, some productions are showing a different path. Netflix's new documentary ‘Churchill at War’ brings Winston Churchill's wartime leadership to life through unseen footage and unheard speeches. Instead of using AI to cut corners, Imagine Entertainment used it to enhance human creativity:

• Used ElevenLabs' Voice Changer to enhance actor Dennis Kleinman's Churchill performance

• Brought in Palette FM and Adobe's AI tools to colorize historical footage

• Had After Effects artists perfect the AI-enhanced footage

The kicker? They needed MORE human artists, not fewer, to make it all work. As Imagine's president Justin Wilkes puts it, "It's definitely not perfect... It still required a heavy team of After Effects artists."

Looking ahead… AI video tools are here to stay, and productions like ‘Churchill at War’ are already setting early examples of how they might be integrated into filmmaking. As more studios experiment with these technologies in 2024, we'll see different models emerge for how Hollywood and AI can coexist. The next few months should be telling.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Channel surfing, ESPN for everyone, and TikTok…

📺🔄 Max is bringing back the channel surf. Warner Bros. Discovery is testing always-on HBO channels that mirror traditional cable TV—complete with comedy, drama, and classic movie lineups. The feature, rolling out to select ad-free US subscribers, joins a growing trend of streamers embracing the old-school TV model. Disney+ recently announced its own continuous playlists, including ABC News Live and themed content channels, while Paramount+ and Peacock have already been playing in the linear programming sandbox. It's a fascinating pivot for an industry that once positioned itself as cable TV's replacement. These channels will appear in a dedicated row on Max's homepage, offering standard playback controls for viewers who miss the lean-back experience. With plans to expand into personalized channels down the line, Max is betting that sometimes, the old way of watching might just be the better way.

🎮📺 Disney+ is making sports more accessible to everyone, bringing ESPN's content to its popular streaming service in a major strategy shift. Starting fall 2025, SportsCenter—ESPN's flagship sports news show that's been cable-TV-only for decades—will stream daily on Disney+. The streaming service will also add about 100 live games from major sports leagues (except football) and launch a new show focused on women's sports. With Disney+ already in 56M homes across the US and Canada, Disney's betting this will attract both casual sports fans and potentially drive them to subscribe to their upcoming premium sports service, ESPN Flagship. It's part of a bigger shift where streaming services are becoming one-stop shops for all entertainment, rather than just places to watch movies and shows.

📊🤝 TV ratings powerhouse Nielsen is teaming up with TikTok. The partnership introduces Nielsen One tracking to the social media platform, letting advertisers finally measure how their campaigns perform across TikTok, TV, and streaming services using the same yardstick. For brands pouring money into TikTok's massive audience (170M monthly users in the US), this means they can now compare results just like they would with traditional TV spots. It's a significant power play that shows TikTok's evolution from social media phenomenon to serious advertising contender. For Hollywood and Madison Avenue, this adds crucial credibility – providing the industry-standard metrics they've been waiting for and suggesting that even more advertising dollars could shift toward the platform.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Jorma Taccone will direct and produce Searchlight’s comedy ‘DNA,’ starring Ben Schwartz and Sam Rockwell, with Schwartz penning the script. (more)

• Julie Bowen is set to star in and executive produce NBC comedy ‘Taste.’ (more)

• Netflix is developing ‘Little Brother,’ a comedy starring John Cena and Eric Andre. (more)

• Sienna Miller joins John Krasinski as an MI6 agent in Amazon’s ‘Jack Ryan’ movie, directed by Andrew Bernstein. (more)

• Paolo Sorrentino will reteam with ‘The Great Beauty’ star Toni Servillo for ‘La Grazia,’ a new Italian love story set to begin filming in spring 2025. (more)

• ABC is developing a second ‘The Rookie’ spinoff. (more)

• Elizabeth Olsen joins Julia Roberts in Sam Esmail’s Warner Bros thriller ‘Panic Carefully,’ a paranoid drama set to begin filming in January. (more)

• Hayley Kiyoko’s debut film ‘Girls Like Girls,’ based on her hit song and viral music video, lands at Focus Features for worldwide release. (more)

• Chloë Grace Moretz and Anthony Ramos lead the cast of romantic comedy ‘Love Language,’ joined by Chloe Fineman, Bobbi Althoff, and more. (more)

• Darren Star and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas team up to adapt her debut novel ‘Climbing in Heels’ into a Universal Television drama. (more)

• A ‘Scrubs’ reboot is in development at ABC, with creator Bill Lawrence onboard and talks underway to reunite the original cast. (more)

• Bobby Farrelly will direct teen road trip comedy ‘Driver’s Ed,’ with production starting in early 2025. (more)

• Aisha Porter-Christie will adapt Nathan Ballingrud’s sci-fi thriller novel ‘The Strange’ for Black Label Media, with J.D. Dillard set to direct. (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• ‘The Agency’ is renewed for S2 at Showtime. (more)

Business 🤝

• James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision partners with Meta on a multi-year deal to develop immersive 3D content for the Meta Quest VR platform. (more)

Other News 🚨

• CBS court show ‘Hot Bench’ is relocating from Los Angeles to Connecticut for financial reasons, continuing the trend of TV productions leaving California due to cost-saving tax incentives. (more)

RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Y2K: Disaster comedy from Kyle Mooney starring Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, and Rachel Zegler.

• Werewolves: Supernatural horror from XYZ Films, featuring a chilling tale of a small town terrorized by mysterious werewolf attacks.

• The Return: A dramatic retelling of Homer’s ‘Odyssey,’ directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

📺 STREAMING

• Churchill at War: (Netflix) Four-part docuseries examining Winston Churchill's WWII leadership.

• Unstoppable (Prime Video) Sports biopic about champion wrestler Anthony Robles starring Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez

• Creature Commandos: (Max) Adult animated DC series from James Gunn, featuring voice work from David Harbour and Frank Grillo.

• The Six Triple Eights: (Netflix) WWII drama from Tyler Perry about an all-Black female battalion, starring Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey.

• Biggest Heist Ever: (Netflix) True crime doc about a couple who stole and laundered $4.5B in Bitcoin, dubbed the "Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde."

• A Nonsense Christmas (Netflix) Holiday music special featuring Sabrina Carpenter, with guest appearances from Shania Twain and Kali Uchis.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW

Disney's 'Moana 2' is set to make history in the traditionally quiet post-Thanksgiving frame, targeting a massive $60M second weekend—which would shatter the previous December first-weekend record held by 'Frozen 2' ($35.1M). 'Wicked' looks strong in third place with around $32M, while 'Gladiator II' should land at $15.5M. Among newcomers, A24's horror-comedy 'Y2K' aims for $3-5M, with 'Werewolves' expected in the low single digits. The weekend could top $120M overall—another record for this typically sleepy frame.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments