🎬 Have Faith 🙏

👋 Bonjour! The Cannes Film Festival unveiled its 2024 lineup yesterday. From Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ to the star-studded ‘Furiosa,’ and even Kevin Costner's latest epic, the lineup is as tantalizing as a fresh croissant. Did you know, with over 200,000 filmmakers, actors, agents, and fans, plus 3,000 to 4,000 journalists, the Cannes Film Festival is the second-largest media event after the Olympics?

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:

• The Faith-Based Revolution

• CinemaCon Wraps Up

• Hollywood’s Piracy Parlay

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

• Release Radar: What to watch this weekend

• Video Village 📀

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, it’s Friday, so let’s take a look at what people were watching this week… 👀

TOP STREAMED THIS WEEK IN THE US

🎬 Faith Finds the Spotlight 🙏
Unpacking the Rising Popularity of Faith-Based Movies

There’s a quiet revolution happening in Hollywood as faith-based films transition from niche to mainstream. This week at CinemaCon, Angel Studios, the mastermind behind ‘Sound of Freedom,’ set the stage ablaze with an audacious claim: their upcoming ‘David’ could top the ‘Lion King’ as the highest-grossing animated movie ever, signaling a transformative era for faith-driven cinema.

Since its inception, Angel Studios, a Utah-based entity, has been crafting a niche outside the conventional Hollywood ecosystem. Its success last year with 'Sound of Freedom,' signifies a seismic shift in faith-based cinema.

The surge hasn’t gone unnoticed; Amazon Studios and Netflix are diving into the spiritual spree, with projects like Netflix’s docuseries on Moses and Martin Scorsese’s venture into Christian saints. Jon Erwin, a successful producer in the faith-based genre, is expanding his efforts with The Wonder Project to produce more faith-based series and films.

So what’s driving this transformation? Let’s take a look:

• 🎥 Box Office Boom: The numbers don’t lie: faith-based films are big business. Just look at ‘Sound of Freedom,’ which raked in a whopping $250M worldwide.

• 🌍 Broadening Horizons: Faith-based films are expanding their appeal, moving from narrowly religious content to more broadly inspirational stories that resonate with diverse audiences.

• 🌟 Star Power: High-profile figures like Tim Tebow and Letitia Wright are lending their names and talents to faith-based projects, bringing even more attention and credibility to the genre.

• 🎬 Crossing Genres: Religious themes are blending with broader human experiences, creating a new breed of faith-based content that appeals to a wider range of moviegoers.

• 📈 Audience-Driven Success: Angel Studios is putting the power in the hands of the audience by crowdsourcing and allowing people to “pay it forward” by buying tickets for others.

With a diverse slate of projects, audience-driven decisions, and global aspirations, this revolution is one to watch closely. Who knows? The next blockbuster might just be a story of faith.

🎬🎥 CinemaCon 2024 Wrap Up: CinemaCon 2024 has come and gone, leaving us with a host of memorable moments and a clearer picture of what the future of cinema holds. Here’s some of the news that came out of the convention:

• Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Universal, Paramount, Disney, Angel Studios, and Crunchyroll unveiled their slates.

• Amazon MGM Studios and Apple skipped the presenter list, raising questions about their theatrical strategies.

• IMAX took center stage, with studios emphasizing their potential to draw audiences back to theaters.

• CEO Bob Iger's "quality over quantity" mantra was evident in the studio's focused slate, including ‘Deadpool and Wolverine,’ ‘Moana 2,’ and 20th Century standouts.

• Universal showcased ‘The Fall Guy,’ ‘Despicable Me 4,’ ‘Twisters,’ ‘Wicked,’ and ‘Wolf Man.’

• With only one Marvel movie and minimal DC updates, CinemaCon 2024 had a distinctly different vibe compared to previous years.

• Studios and executives emphasized the importance of boosting mid-budget films.

• Damien Chazelle will direct a new, original script for Paramount, with a possible prison setting.

• Glen Powell is set to lead in Edgar Wright's reboot of 'The Running Man' for Paramount.

• Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' is set for a grand 10th-anniversary re-release in 70mm and IMAX this September.

• Additional news from CinemaCon below in ‘Last Looks.’ 👇👀

🎥⚖️ Hollywood’s Piracy Parlay: The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is cooking up a sequel to its 2011 anti-piracy saga, SOPA, which left a bitter taste in the mouths of free speech advocates. MPA's chief, Charles Rivkin, unveiled plans at CinemaCon to whip up a new law with Congress, aimed at swiftly blocking websites serving pirated content. Critics, however, are already raising eyebrows, fearing the recipe could be misused for censorship. The proposed framework calls for a judicially overseen process, allowing the public and ISPs to chime in before hitting the "block" button. With the MPA touting the success of similar laws abroad and the ineffectiveness of current measures against foreign piracy, this fresh batch of legislation could be a game-changer in the ongoing tug-of-war between copyright protection and digital freedoms.

Development 🗒️

• Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment is set to produce a 'Monopoly' movie for Lionsgate. (more)

• Lionsgate and Blumhouse have announced a new 'Blair Witch Project' film. (more)

• Peter Dinklage joins the cast of 'Wicked: Part One.' (more)

• Keke Palmer is set to star in action-thriller ‘Gods Unknown.’ (more)

• A new ‘Scary Movie’ is in the works. (more)

• Tim Kring is rebooting 'Heroes' with a new series titled 'Heroes: Eclipsed.' (more)

• A live-action, R-rated 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin' movie is in development. (more)

• Universal Pictures and Blumhouse are rolling out a sequel to 2023's box-office hit 'Five Nights at Freddy’s.’ (more)

• CBS Studios is developing a ‘Melrose Place’ revival featuring original stars Heather Locklear, Daphne Zuniga, and Laura Leighton. (more)

• Apple Original Films acquires global rights to the Cannes-selected documentary 'Bread & Roses,' produced by Jennifer Lawrence's company. (more)

• Paramount’s upcoming animated 'Smurfs' movie, set for a 2025 release, boasts a star-studded voice cast. (more)

• Lionsgate reveals the first look of 'Ballerina,' a 'John Wick' spinoff starring Ana de Armas. (more)

• Tom Segura will star in and produce a six-episode dark comedy series for Netflix. (more)

• Warner Bros. acquires Blitz Bazawule’s ‘Black Samurai,’ a film about Yasuke, the first Black samurai. (more)

• Nia DaCosta is in talks to direct the second film of the new '28 Years Later' trilogy. (more)

✅ Renewed & Canceled ❌

• ‘The Night Manager’ is revived for two seasons at BBC and Prime Video. (more)

• ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ is renewed for S2 at Apple. (more)

• CBS renews 'SWAT' for S8, overturning its previously announced conclusion. (more)

Business 🤝

• Four Paramount Global board members are stepping down amid merger talks with Skydance Media. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Showtime’s streaming service is shutting down at the end of April. (more)

What to watch this weekend? 👀

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Civil War: Dystopian modern civil war film directed by Alex Garland.

• Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead: Remake of the 1991 comedy of the same name.

📺 STREAMING

• Franklin: (Apple TV+) Michael Douglas plays Benjamin Franklin in this bio-drama miniseries.

• Baby Reindeer: (Netflix) Drama mini-series starring Richard Gadd, based on the true story of his relationship with a female stalker.