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🎬 Chris Nolan for President
Christopher Nolan takes leadership position at DGA, Netflix/WBD acquisition rumors, weekend box office numbers, and MORE!
🍂 Good morning. Happy first day of fall to everyone experiencing actual seasons. LA folks, we'll just keep pretending 78° and sunny counts as autumn. To celebrate the autumnal equinox anyway, we've made a Letterboxd list of perfect fall movies, from 'When Harry Met Sally's' Central Park strolls to the stop-motion autumn of 'Fantastic Mr. Fox.' Reply to this email with your favorite cozy fall films and we'll add them to the list.
Hope you had a fantastic weekend. Monday means fresh box office numbers and weekend industry news to unpack. Grab something caffeinated and we’ll get you caught up. 👇
BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ Three swings, three misses…
Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers in Universal’s ‘Him’
👹 Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle: (Wk 2) $17.3M domestic weekend (-75%), $104.7M domestic total, $555M global. Held onto #1 despite a 75% drop. That’s typical for anime releases though, especially part one of a three-part series finale. Now the highest-grossing anime film ever, crushing ‘Pokémon: The First Movie's’ unadjusted $85M from 1999 (on just a $20M budget).
🏈 Him: 🆕 $13.5M domestic opening, $13.86M global debut. Universal's Jordan Peele-produced sports thriller missed its $15-20M projections, with a C- CinemaScore and 27% on Rotten Tomatoes signaling trouble ahead ($27M budget).
👻 The Conjuring: Last Rites: (Wk 3) $12.95M domestic weekend (-49%), $151.2M domestic total, $400M global. Just became the franchise's biggest movie ever, and helped New Line’s horror division crack $1B this year on a $145M budget across their slate (this one cost $55M).
🎩 Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale: (Wk 2) $6.3M domestic weekend (-65%), $31.6M domestic total, $59.5M global. The Crawleys’ farewell took a steep drop but still needs to recoup its $50M budget.
🚶 The Long Walk: (Wk 2) $6.3M domestic weekend (-46%), $22.7M domestic total. Stephen King's dystopian thriller shows solid legs with one of the weekend's best holds ($20M budget).
💔 A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: 🆕 $3.5M domestic opening, $8M global debut. Even Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell couldn't save this outright flop. B- CinemaScore and 36% on Rotten Tomatoes mean that $45M budget is looking painful.
👴 The Senior: 🆕 $2.77M domestic opening. Angel Studios' inspirational true story scored an A CinemaScore but couldn't find its audience without major marketing spend.
🤠 Toy Story: (Re-release) $1.4M domestic weekend (-59%), $198.4M lifetime domestic total.
🎭 Sight & Sound Presents: Daniel LIVE: $1.38M domestic weekend, $1.6M domestic total. (Wk 56) The faith-based theatrical experience continues its specialty run.
🔫 Weapons: (Wk 7) $1.26M domestic weekend (-54%), $149.7M domestic total. The horror hit exits wide release with a solid 4x multiplier on its $38M budget.
The big picture: The box office managed just $74.6M this weekend, down from last weekend's anime-fueled $147M and down 9% from 2024's $81.9M frame. None of the new releases could deliver, with all three debuts disappointing. Also, those brutal Rotten Tomatoes scores for 'Him' (27%) and 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' (36%) suggest maybe reviews still matter after all. Despite the soft weekend, year-to-date is holding at +4% ahead of 2024. Next weekend brings Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar contender 'One Battle After Another,' starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
CLOSEUP
🔥 Everybody wants Warner Bros. (maybe)…
Last week's news that the Ellisons' Paramount is eyeing WBD has sparked rumors that Netflix and others are also evaluating the legendary studio—which happens to be on a theatrical hot streak in 2025. Suddenly, multiple players are running the numbers. Here's what we know (and what's still speculation):
Confirmed: David Ellison's Paramount/Skydance is preparing a mostly cash bid for all of WBD, backed by his father Larry's Oracle fortune
Rumored: Netflix is "considering a bid" according to well-placed sources, though they'd likely only want the studio and streaming assets
Also sniffing around: NBCUniversal has been "running the numbers," though regulatory hurdles make them a long shot
The consolidation avalanche: Many predicted 2025 would be Hollywood's big M&A year, but deals have been slow to materialize. The Ellisons' deep pockets and willingness to spend big on Paramount (and potentially WBD) may finally be triggering the anticipated consolidation wave. Once one buyer starts writing checks, others rush to avoid missing out on the few remaining targets.
Paramount's potential edge: The Ellisons want it all, including the debt-laden cable channels everyone else avoids. While most buyers can't or won't pay for WBD's money-losing linear TV assets, the Ellisons have Larry's Oracle fortune backing them. This willingness to take everything could help them avoid a bidding war for just the streaming and studio assets that others want.
The critics' nightmare scenario: Industry watchers are sounding alarms about what this consolidation could mean for creators. Fewer buyers = fewer projects getting greenlit. The Netflix scenario is particularly scary for cinema purists. Imagine Batman, Harry Potter, and Barbie all trapped behind a streaming paywall. Some fear that with Netflix's notorious anti-theatrical stance, putting that much legendary IP under their control could spell the end of the multiplex as we know it.
Looking ahead… Bid preparations don't guarantee deals or quick timelines. Announcements could come tomorrow, take months, or never happen at all. Between WBD's planned split and regulatory hurdles, the interest is real but so are the obstacles.
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ICYMI
⚡️Quick hits…
🎥 Christopher Nolan was elected president of the Directors Guild of America, calling it "one of the greatest honors of my career." The 'Oppenheimer' director marks a rare A-lister taking union leadership at their career peak, ahead of 2026 negotiations with studios next year.
🎤 Taylor Swift is delivering a surprise box office boost with a last-minute theatrical booking, as 'The Official Release Party of a Showgirl' scored $15M in first-day presales. The album film is projected to earn $30M-$50M over its one-weekend October 3-5 run, booked directly through AMC's Adam Aron—no distributor.
👻 BoulderLight Pictures will launch a genre label at Paramount, with the 'Barbarian' and 'Weapons' producers leaving New Line when their deal expires in January. JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules will develop and produce high-concept genre films under the yet-unnamed label at their new studio home.
📺 Disney and Jimmy Kimmel have been meeting to negotiate his return after 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' was pulled indefinitely last week. Disney wants him back but asked him to tone down the political rhetoric. Sources say he's concerned about the impact on 200+ production staffers as both sides work toward a resolution.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain will reunite for holiday comedy ‘Deck the Y’Alls,’ also starring Wanda Sykes. (more)
Paramount has acquired sea survival thriller ‘Here Be Monsters’ as the next film from ‘Tron: Ares’ director Joachim Rønning. (more)
Andrea Brillantes will star in Rein Entertainment’s drama thriller ‘Laya,’ directed by Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo. (more)
Amazon MGM Studios is developing a live-action ‘Teddy Ruxpin’ movie with Seven Bucks and Story Kitchen producing. (more)
TV Development 📺
Pamela Anderson has launched And-Her-Sons Productions with her sons, with a ‘Barb Wire’ TV series set as their first project. (more)
Pablo Schreiber, Zoë Chao, Jamie Neumann and Antonella Rose have joined Alison Brie in FX’s ‘Witness Protection’ pilot. (more)
Ben Robson and Heidi Engerman have joined S2 of Netflix’s romantic Western drama ‘Ransom Canyon.’ (more)
Gina Carano will star in Vegas crime series ‘Logan Reign,’ her first TV project since ‘The Mandalorian.’ (more)
HBO is developing a series based on ‘WitSec: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program,’ exploring the program’s rogue origins. (more)
Business 🤝
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CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead
FRIDAY: New York Film Festival kicks off 🗽
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
That’s all for Monday. If you're reading this email because a friend forwarded it, join the party and hit that subscribe button below. 📧👇
Whether you're crunching through actual leaves or just cranking the AC to pretend it's sweater weather, have a stellar week. See you back here Wednesday!
-The Dailies Team
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