🎬 Corporate AI Overlords

👋 Good morning! Turkey wasn't the only thing Americans were hungry for this weekend. AMC Theatres had to add a virtual queue for ticket purchases as moviegoers flooded back to cinemas in record numbers, making this weekend the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend ever.

Welcome back to the Dailies after what we hope was a restful Thanksgiving break. As you shake off that turkey-induced haze, we'll get you caught up on everything you missed over the long holiday weekend. No need to chase down a newsstand, we've got everything you need right here.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• OpenAI Testers Stage Rebellion

• Hollywood’s Secret AI Training

• NEON Bags $200M Deal

• UK Shows Go Big

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, let’s take a look at what happened at the box office this past weekend!

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Moana 2’ breaks Thanksgiving frame records…

1. 🌊 Moana 2: $135.5M domestic weekend ($221M 5-day), $386.3M global debut. Sets multiple records including biggest Thanksgiving opening ever and biggest 5-day opening of all time. A- CinemaScore and strong 87% audience score suggest smooth sailing ahead.

2. 🧙‍♀️ Wicked: $80M domestic weekend (-29%), $117.5M 5-day, $262.4M domestic total, $359.3M global. Phenomenal hold in second frame makes it the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation ever, surpassing ‘Grease's’ long-standing record.

3. ⚔️ Gladiator II: $30.7M domestic weekend (-44%), $44M 5-day, $111.2M domestic total, $320M global. Strong counter-programming play with 52% of audience under 35, proving the franchise's cross-generational appeal.

4. 🎅 Red One: $12.9M domestic weekend (-2%), $18.7M 5-day, $76M domestic total, $148.7M global.

5. 🎄 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: $3.3M domestic weekend (-4%), $4.85M 5-day, $32M domestic total.

6. 🕊️ Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.: $2.4M domestic weekend (-52%), $3.44M 5-day, $9.7M domestic total.

7. 🕷️ Venom: The Last Dance: $2.2M domestic weekend (-43%), $3.1M 5-day, $137.9M domestic total.

8. 🏡 Heretic: $957K domestic weekend (-57%), $1.5M 5-day, $26.8M domestic total.

9. 🤖 The Wild Robot: $670K domestic weekend (-68%), $1M 5-day, $142.4M domestic total.

10. 👬 A Real Pain: $665K domestic weekend (-39%), $900K 5-day, $6.1M domestic total.

The Big Picture: Hollywood served up a record-breaking feast this Thanksgiving, with the holiday frame's massive $422M haul demolishing 2018's $315.6M benchmark. Three distinctly different crowd-pleasers—'Moana 2,' 'Wicked,' and 'Gladiator II'—each carved out their own audience slice without cannibalizing each other. Disney's pivot of 'Moana 2' from streaming series to theatrical release proved especially savvy, translating the original's Disney+ popularity into box office gold. While this holiday weekend helped narrow 2024's year-to-date deficit, overall box office is still trailing 2023 by 13.8%.

CLOSEUP
🤖 Open AI’s Sora beta testers stage a protest leak…

OpenAI's fancy new text-to-video tool is getting some unwanted attention. Last week, a group of fed-up beta testers briefly leaked access to Sora, claiming the company cares more about good press than actual creative input.

For the uninitiated, Sora is OpenAI's shiny new toy that dropped in February 2024—a groundbreaking text-to-video generator capable of creating incredibly detailed, realistic videos up to 60 seconds long from simple text prompts. It can generate complex scenes with multiple characters and even transform still images into videos.

The protest involved around 300 beta testers and lasted about three hours before OpenAI shut down access. These artists were working without compensation, despite OpenAI's massive $150B valuation and CEO Sam Altman's personal stake worth approximately $10.5B following recent Softbank funding.

The artists, who penned a letter titled "Dear Corporate AI Overlords" (points for style!), aren't against AI—they're against how OpenAI's running the show. Their beef? The company allegedly:

• Kept tight control over creative testing, only allowing artists to share positive results while suppressing any critical feedback

• Used artists' involvement as a PR shield to make the tool seem more artist-friendly and ethically developed

• Offered a token reward—screening some Sora-created films—instead of actual payment for their work

• Got hundreds of artists to do valuable beta testing, bug reporting, and feedback work without compensation

OpenAI's response: The company defended its program, saying artists helped shape the tool and its safeguards. They emphasized that participation was completely voluntary and no one was forced to provide feedback.

Looking ahead: While some lucky X users got to play with the leaked tool, Sora's impact is already sending shockwaves through Hollywood. The tool is miles ahead of its competitors in the AI video space, and that gap has industry veterans spooked. Case in point: Earlier this year, Tyler Perry hit the brakes on an $800M studio expansion after seeing what Sora can do. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

WIDESHOT
🎬 More AI, NEON’s $200M deal, and British TV…

🤖🎬 AI’s been binge-watching Hollywood (without permission). Tech companies have been caught using Hollywood’s greatest hits to teach their AI chatbots how to talk, and writers aren’t happy about it. The Atlantic blew the lid off a massive collection of over 139,000 TV shows and movies sitting on OpenSubtitles.org that companies like Apple, Meta and Anthropic have been feeding to their AI systems. Writers are calling it “theft,” while tech companies argue it’s fair game. Meanwhile, the studios, who actually own these scripts, are staying surprisingly quiet. With experts predicting $10B in AI licensing fees by 2025, Hollywood's facing a new reality where their creative work is secretly teaching machines to think and talk like humans. Looking ahead... the industry's floating potential fixes—like WGA-style compensation models and AI tracking tech—but these solutions could take years to implement, if they happen at all.

💰🎬 NEON’s fortifying its war chest with a $200M+ Comerica-led credit facility—a power move that signals big ambitions for the indie studio. The cash injection comes hot on the heels of a banner year that saw ‘Anora’ clinch Cannes' top prize and ‘Longlegs’ crush the box office with $75M+ domestic. Beyond bankrolling acquisitions and core ops, this war chest is all about expanding NEON’s global footprint. With heavy-hitters like Boots Riley's star-studded ‘I Love Boosters’ and the ‘It Follows’ sequel in the pipeline, plus their historic Studio of the Year win at the Clio Entertainment Awards, NEON’s positioning itself as a serious player in the global film landscape. The deal suggests we might be entering a new chapter where indie studios can compete at scale while still delivering sophisticated, boundary-pushing cinema.

📺🇬🇧 British TV is making serious cash in America. A new industry report reveals US buyers spent a record high of $751M on UK shows in 2023—up 13% from last year. These purchases helped bridge the entertainment gap during Hollywood's 2023 labor disputes, with shows like ‘Doctor Who’ keeping viewers hooked while US production stalled. Co-productions—where US and UK studios team up to create shows together—took a massive 29% nosedive. Instead of playing the collaboration game, platforms like Netflix and Prime Video are now just buying completed shows outright. Looking ahead... This shift from co-productions to straight purchases likely isn't just a temporary fix. With streamers focused on controlling costs, buying ready-made hits is cheaper and less risky than investing in production partnerships. Plus, British shows are already winning over American audiences without needing a U.S. makeover.

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LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Charlize Theron joins Christopher Nolan’s star-studded mystery project, set for a 2026 release alongside Tom Holland, Matt Damon, and Zendaya. (more)

• Jeff Nichols is crafting an Arkansas-set original script while adapting Cormac McCarthy novels. (more)

• Selena Gomez’s Wondermind launches its first scripted project, ‘Baggage Claim,’ with Yvonne Hana Yi adapting Julianna Baggott’s story. (more)

• Netflix greenlights ‘I Will Find You,’ an eight-episode Harlan Coben thriller. (more)

• NBC Sports will stream a Madden NFL-inspired alternate broadcast of the Dec. 21 Chiefs-Texans game on Peacock, blending live action with video game graphics. (more)

• Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning join Renate Reinsve in Joachim Trier’s ‘Sentimental Value.’ (more)

• Barry Keoghan is set to play Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopic series, focusing on each band member’s perspective. (more)

• A sequel and TV adaptation of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ are in the works as Bridge7 acquires the rights to continue Jamal’s journey. (more)

• John Krasinski and Matthew Rhys team up for Prime Video thriller ‘Silent River.’ (more)

• Focus Features acquires global rights to Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s AI thriller ‘Hot Spot,’ starring Noomi Rapace. (more)

• Sophia Banks will direct a film about Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, exploring the mystery behind the cryptocurrency’s enigmatic creator. (more)

• 20th Century wins a heated bidding war for Edward Berger and Austin Butler’s time-travel film ‘The Barrier,’ based on MacMillan Hedges’ short story. (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• Bravo renews ‘Vanderpump Rules’ for S12 with a fresh cast. (more)

Business 🤝

• Warner Bros. Discovery investors file a lawsuit alleging “significant losses” due to fallout from losing NBA rights negotiations. (more)

Other News 🚨

• The Animation Guild secures a tentative 3-year deal with AMPTP, pending member ratification. (more)

• Disney extends its lead over YouTube in Nielsen’s October Gauge rankings, claiming 11.7% of TV usage. (more)

• The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade set a new all-time viewership record with 31.3M cross-platform viewers. (more)

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments