🎬 Cowboys Enter Chat

👋 Good morning! Here’s a crazy plot twist: that cheesy ‘Star Wars’ fan site from 2010 was actually a CIA spy communication hub. StarWarsWeb.net looked like your typical fanboy paradise with LEGO ads and Yoda quotes, but hidden behind the facade was a covert login system. Enter the right password, and boom—secure line to CIA handlers. The Agency ran hundreds of similar fake fan pages worldwide, but sloppy coding made them vulnerable to discovery, with tragic consequences for exposed sources.

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🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Rescued From Streaming

• Google’s AI PR Push

• Texas Enters Incentives War

• Amazon Shops Crown Jewels

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

CLOSEUP
📉 Streaming was the plan… until it wasn’t…

Get this: Two of 2025’s biggest box office hits were once headed directly for your living room. Early on, Disney reportedly considered sending ‘Lilo & Stitch’ straight to Disney+, and ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ was developed as a Max original.

Instead, both hit the big screen—’Lilo & Stitch’ opened to a massive $185M over this past Memorial Day weekend, while ‘Bloodlines’ has pulled in $187M globally since opening two weeks ago. Clearly theaters still bring the heat. Some other recent wins from the “wait, maybe theaters?” files:

• ‘Moana 2’: Reworked from Disney+ series after Bob Iger said it "deserved a theatrical release" → $221M in just five days

• ‘Smile’ (2022): Pulled from Paramount+ after strong test screens → $217M worldwide on a $17M budget

• ‘Evil Dead Rise’: Rescued from HBO Max → $147M global

So why the sudden U-turn? The math is hard to ignore. A $17M movie like ‘Smile’ pulled in $217M at the box office. If it had gone straight to streaming, there’s no direct revenue—just a bump in watch time or maybe attract some new subscribers. Studios can’t easily track how much money a single title makes on a platform, which makes those returns… fuzzy at best.

Then there’s Wall Street. For years, studios were rewarded for stacking subscribers, even if those users never made the company money. But the mood’s changed—investors now want sustainable profits, not just growth-at-any-cost metrics.

Looking ahead... Streaming isn’t going anywhere, but expect studios to get a lot pickier about what goes there first. The irony? After years of pushing audiences to stay home, Hollywood is rediscovering that it left a few hundred million dollars at the multiplex.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM THE STUDIO
"The Best New Comedy of The Year"

Seth Rogen stars as the newly appointed head of a movie studio. Desperate for celebrity approval, he and his executive team at Continental Studios must juggle corporate demands with creative ambitions as they try to keep movies alive and relevant.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Google, Texas, and Amazon…

🤖 Google is bankrolling Hollywood's AI redemption arc. In a bid to reshape how artificial intelligence is portrayed on screen, Google launched “AI on Screen,” a partnership with Range Media to bankroll short films that explore more human, less apocalyptic stories. Think ‘Her’ not ‘Terminator.’ The timing is no coincidence: the rollout came the same week Google unveiled Veo 3, a hyperrealistic AI video tool that can generate lifelike actors, synced dialogue, and cinematic scenes—raising new alarms about authenticity, labor, and creative ownership. Google, like other tech giants, is trying to soften public perception just as its AI tools become powerful enough to threaten jobs and blur reality. Two films are already greenlit: ‘Sweetwater,’ with Michael Keaton directing and starring as a man who discovers an AI hologram of his late celebrity mother, and ‘Lucid,’ a sci-fi romance about a couple connected through dream-sharing AI.

🤠 Hollywood’s got a new suitor, and it’s wearing cowboy boots. Texas just passed a bill juicing its film and TV incentives from a humble $40M to a ten-gallon-sized $300M every two years through 2035—that’s $150M a year in direct cash grants, not tax credits, totaling $1.5B over the next decade. The move plants Texas squarely in the middle of the growing film incentive arms race: Georgia shells out over $1B a year with no cap, New York just raised its limit to $800M, and California’s in the process of warming up its checkbook too. But Texas isn’t trying to out-Hollywood Hollywood—it just wants its own stories (like ‘Landman’) to stop packing up for competing states like New Mexico. To help sell the pitch, the state called in some high-wattage hypemen: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Taylor Sheridan, and Dennis Quaid all rallied behind the bill. With multiple studio developments waiting in the wings, the Lone Star State is gunning to become America’s third media coast.

🤝 Amazon is now selling its billion-dollar crown jewels to competitors. The tech giant is shopping ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ and ‘Citadel’—its most expensive shows ever—to global buyers, even in territories where Prime Video already streams them. It's part of a broader shift: Streamers are abandoning the "walled garden" era of hoarding content to drive subscriptions, embracing old-school licensing to boost profits instead. That includes "second-window" deals, where shows premiere on a streamer then get sold to other networks months later. So far, this strategy hasn't hurt initial viewership—it might even help. With tightening budgets, maximizing revenue on every hit has become essential. As streamers pivot from chasing subscriber counts to chasing profits, the dream of dethroning Netflix is fading. In its place: a future where rivals compete but also cooperate to make the math work.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Netflix has acquired Richard Linklater’s French-language film ‘Nouvelle Vague’ for $4M following its Cannes debut. (more)

• Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio will executive produce ‘Carthage Must Be Destroyed,’ an action thriller directed by Ted Griffin. (more)

• Amazon MGM Studios has tapped Emily Ziff Griffin to adapt her short story ‘Morning Person’ into a feature film exploring modern womanhood. (more)

• Jia Zhangke’s Unknown Pleasures Pictures has acquired ‘Sentimental Value’ and two other Cannes titles for theatrical release in China. (more)

• Vertical has picked up horror mockumentary ‘Found Footage: The Making of The Patterson Project’ for North American and U.K. release. (more)

• Prime Video has acquired Karan Tejpal’s acclaimed debut thriller ‘Stolen,’ a Venice-selected film set to stream globally on June 4. (more)

• Janus Films has acquired North American rights to Bi Gan’s Cannes prize-winner ‘Resurrection,’ a surreal epic featuring a score by M83. (more)

TV Development 📺

• ‘Hacks’ is renewed for S5 at HBO Max. (more)

• Isabel DeRoy-Olson and Luke Barnett have joined AMC’s ‘Dark Winds’ for S4, currently filming for a 2026 premiere. (more)

• Amazon orders ‘Esports World Cup: Level Up,’ a docuseries from R.J. Cutler about the $60M global gaming event. (more)

• Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ reboot has added Jocko Sims, Warren Christie, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, and more to its cast. (more)

• Matt Cornett, Ramon Reed, and Chris Klein lead indie comedy ‘Bad Counselors,’ with Missi Pyle and Brec Bassinger also joining the cast. (more)

• HBO has cast Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton as Harry, Ron, and Hermione in its upcoming ‘Harry Potter’ TV series. (more)

• CBS is bringing back ‘Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen’ to its post-Colbert time slot, following the cancellation of ‘After Midnight.’ (more)

• Paramount+ spy thriller ‘The Agency’ has begun filming S2 in London with Michael Fassbender and the full cast returning. (more)

Business 🤝

• AMC Networks ups Olivia Dupuis to EVP of Publicity, overseeing PR across all networks and streamers. (more)

• Netflix has unveiled a major Brazil content slate, announcing new series, films, and documentaries as part of its expanded local investment. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Fox’s first broadcast of the ‘Indianapolis 500’ drew 7.05M viewers, the race’s highest viewership since 2008. (more)

• ‘The Last of Us’ S2 finale drew 3.7M U.S. viewers, down from the premiere but expected to grow post-holiday. (more)

• Quixote is reviving the iconic Star Waggons brand with new luxury, eco-friendly trailers. (more)

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments