🎬 Fall Festival Season is Here

👋 Good morning! Vulture has blessed film nerds with their own fantasy football equivalent, where you draft movies instead of players and pray for Oscar noms instead of touchdowns. Now in its fifth season, the Movies Fantasy League has you spending $100 in fake cash on eight films, scoring points through Oscar night based on everything from box office hauls to Metacritic scores. Perfect for people who insist they “called it” after every awards season.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to The Dailies. Grab your coffee and we’ll get you up to speed on the latest Hollywood news. 👇

CLOSEUP
🇮🇹 Venice kicks off fall festival season…

The fall festival circuit starts today with the 82nd Venice Film Festival, marking the beginning of the industry's most crucial period for positioning Oscar contenders.

Why Venice matters: The festival programs exclusively world premieres, which then travel the entire festival circuit. Venice has a strong track record of launching Oscar contenders: 'The Brutalist' debuted here last year and went on to win 3 Academy Awards, and 'Poor Things' won the Golden Lion in 2023 before Emma Stone took home Best Actress. After Cannes dominated last season (31 Oscar noms vs Venice's 17), industry sources say Venice is poised for a comeback with this year's stronger lineup.

This year’s heavy hitters…

• Netflix is back with three major titles after sitting out 2024: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ reimagining (stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth), Kathryn Bigelow’s geopolitical thriller ‘A House of Dynamite’ (Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson) and Noah Baumbach's ‘Jay Kelly’ (George Clooney, Adam Sandler).

• ‘The Smashing Machine’ (A24) — Dwayne Johnson's dramatic Venice debut with Emily Blunt

• ‘After the Hunt’ (out of competition) — Julia Roberts' Lido debut in Luca Guadagnino's latest

• ‘No Other Choice’ — Park Chan-wook returns to competition

• ‘Bugonia’ — Yorgos Lanthimos reunites with Emma Stone

• ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ — Jim Jarmusch brings Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver

• See the full lineup here. 👈👀

Sales watch: Unlike Cannes' Marché du Film or Berlin's EFM, Venice has no official marketplace. Several high-profile titles are still seeking distribution though, with deals typically happening quietly in hotel suites rather than market screenings.

Several anticipated titles skip Venice entirely: Chloé Zhao's 'Hamnet' (Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley), Edward Berger's 'Ballad of a Small Player' (Colin Farrell), and the Bruce Springsteen biopic 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' are expected at Telluride and TIFF.

Looking ahead… Venice runs through September 6, with many of these world premieres immediately traveling to Telluride (starting this Friday), TIFF (September 4-14), and NYFF later in September.

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CLOSEUP
📀 Your entire digital library is a rental in disguise…

Amazon is facing a new class action lawsuit over something most of us never think twice about: clicking "buy" on Prime Video doesn't mean you actually own that movie.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Washington federal court, accuses Amazon of misleading consumers. While "Buy" buttons are prominently displayed throughout the purchase process, customers are actually just getting a revocable license. If Amazon loses the rights, your purchased movie could disappear overnight or get replaced with a different version.

Both Amazon and Apple have been down this road before. In 2020, Amazon defended similar allegations by arguing consumers understand they're buying licenses, not permanent ownership. Apple was hit with comparable claims.

So what’s different about this new lawsuit? The timing is everything. California's Assembly Bill 2426, which took effect this year, explicitly prohibits advertising digital goods as "purchases" unless buyers get unrestricted ownership. The law requires clear disclosure that customers are getting revocable licenses, something plaintiffs say Amazon buries in tiny print at the bottom of confirmation pages.

What filmmakers have said: Historically, filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Guillermo del Toro have weighed in on digital ownership. Nolan has noted that streaming content can “get taken down,” while physical media is the only thing you truly own. Del Toro agreed, calling owning physical media a "responsibility," and compares disc collectors to ‘Fahrenheit 451’ characters who become "custodians" of films.

Looking ahead... If successful, this lawsuit could force all streaming platforms to redesign their checkout process. The plaintiffs want Amazon to cough up all the profits they made from these fake "purchases," plus extra damages for what they're calling intentional deception.

ICYMI
🎬 Quick hits…

🕵️ Netflix won a bidding war against Amazon and Apple for an untitled series reuniting 'True Detective' creator Nic Pizzolatto with star Matthew McConaughey, plus 'Yellowstone's' Cole Hauser. The actors will play brothers in the project. HBO was notably absent from bidding after Pizzolatto publicly criticized their 'True Detective' S4.

🤖 Anthropic settled with authors who accused the AI company of illegally downloading 7M books to train Claude, marking one of the first creator settlements in AI copyright battles. Though a judge ruled AI training is fair use, Anthropic faced massive damages for allegedly pirating content before purchasing legitimate copies.

📈 YouTube topped TV viewership for the sixth straight month, capturing 13.4% of all U.S. TV watching in July. YouTube and Netflix combined made up over 20% of viewing time, matching all cable networks combined. Streaming overall reached 47.3% of TV use, with YouTube holding its lead as the country's most-watched platform.

🏈 Fox channels could disappear from YouTube TV today at 5 PM ET, days before NFL season starts Sept. 7. The networks are deadlocked over fees, with Fox claiming Google exploits its market power while YouTube TV says Fox wants excessive payments. The blackout would affect 8M subscribers' access to Fox Sports and News.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Universal is developing a ‘Knight Rider’ movie with the creators of ‘Cobra Kai’ writing and producing. (more)

• Sony and Netflix are in talks to develop a sequel to animated hit ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ now Netflix’s most-watched film ever. (more)

• The Forge has acquired Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut ‘The Chronology of Water,’ starring Imogen Poots, for a December release. (more)

• Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights to Pedro Almodóvar’s new film ‘Bitter Christmas.’ (more)

• Emma Roberts will star in rom-com murder mystery ‘A Murder Uncorked,’ directed by Ari Sandel and written by Karen McCullah. (more)

• Watermelon Pictures has acquired North American rights to Cherien Dabis’ Oscar contender ‘All That’s Left of You.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• Annette Bening will star in Paramount’s new ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff ‘The Dutton Ranch’ alongside Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser. (more)

• Netflix has renewed its ‘Trainwreck’ documentary franchise, including the hit ‘Poop Cruise,’ for a second season. (more)

• Hulu has ordered Alex Gibney’s untitled documentary on alleged murderer Luigi Mangione. (more)

• Prime Video is developing ‘Dorothy,’ a contemporary Wizard of Oz series from Gina Matthews with Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton as EPs. (more)

• Zack Stentz will write and showrun a TV adaptation of David Morrell’s Victorian mystery ‘Murder As A Fine Art.’ (more)

• Hulu has ordered a pilot for Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran’s YA boarding school drama ‘Foster Dade.’ (more)

• Netflix has canceled ‘The Waterfront’ after one season. (more)

• ‘Deli Boys’ is renewed for S2 at Hulu. (more)

Business 🤝

• Penske Media has sold TVLine to Static Media, with editor-in-chief Kimberly Roots continuing to lead the site. (more)

• EchoStar has struck a $23B deal to sell spectrum licenses to AT&T, aiming to resolve FCC concerns and boost finances. (more)

• Disney is suing Sling TV, claiming its new short-term “mini-bundles” violate their carriage agreement. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Netflix will open its first Netflix House venues Nov. 12 in Philadelphia and Dec. 11 in Dallas, with a Las Vegas site to follow in 2027. (more)

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