🎬 A New Type Of Blockbuster

👋 Good morning! Welcome aboard the Dailies.

Whether you're a seasoned subscriber or a new arrival, we're thrilled to have you here. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, we'll deliver the most important industry scoops directly to your inbox.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Closeup: A New Type of Blockbuster

• Universal’s “No Extension” Policy

• No Deal Between SAG & Video Game Industry

• What Makes a Subscriber?

• 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!

LAST WEEKEND’S
🎟️ BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN 🎟️

Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie: This animated sequel is making some noise, raking in $23.0M and claiming first place this past weekend. 🐾📈 It's performing better than its 2021 counterpart and has grossed $46.1M worldwide. Global fans, especially from China, Australia, and Mexico, are clearly loving it!

Saw X: The 10th installment of this horror series ‘saw’ $18.0M in its debut, securing the second spot. 🔪📉 Though it's performing better than the recent sequels, it still didn't surpass the success of the earlier films.

The Creator: This sci-fi original garnered $14.0M in third place, comparing similarly to other sci-fis like 'Ad Astra' and 'Passengers'. 🌌🤖 Not great considering its $80M budget.

The Nun II: After leading the charts last weekend, it's now at fourth with a $4.6M haul. 👻🙏 Though not reaching the heights of its predecessor, it's still earned a global total of $231.2M.

The Blind: The biopic drama about the 'Duck Dynasty' family surprised many, collecting $4.1M in its full weekend debut. 🦆👀 Its limited theater count didn't stop it from breaking into the top five.

A New Type of Blockbuster

🍾 How Gareth Edwards Gave Us Champagne on a Beer Budget
(And What It Means For Hollywood) 🤩

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about Gareth Edwards’ latest blockbuster, ‘The Creator,’ which debuted in theaters this past weekend. If you’ve been living under a rock (or just binge-watching old TV shows—we don’t judge) here’s the quick low-down: This genius made a film that felt like it cost a whopping $300 million…but only splashed out $80 million. 

Hollywood isn’t big on disclosing film budgets, but in this case, Edwards has been super open about the film’s $80 million price tag. While that's no pocket change, it's still very lean for a massive sci-fi epic.

So How Did He Do It?

Instead of blowing cash on fancy, fabricated sets or being ensnared in heaps of green screens and tech paraphernalia, Edwards packed his bags and decided to shoot as much as he could on location. He rounded up a small, bare-bones crew (including Oscar-winning DP Greig Fraser) and jetted off to 80 real-world locations to shoot guerilla style. They literally used a $4,000 camera. Yup, you read that right.

Typically, Hollywood uses concept art to shape the film's visuals. Edwards and Fraser decided to flip the script. Rather than making the locations fit the film, they made the film fit the locations and jazzed it up with effects later. Sounds very similar to an indie film, right?

When it came to the AI characters in the movie, instead of the usual motion capture suits, Edwards opted for a more flexible approach: after editing, he'd just point to extras and say, "make that person a robot."

So, essentially, Gareth’s model: 📉 save on production and 📈 splurge on post-production. By filming it with an indie vibe and piling on the VFX later, he made a blockbuster that looks like it cost triple what it actually did.

What Does This Mean For The Future of Hollywood?

When someone manages to make a budget film look like it’s worth hundreds of millions, that’s bound to send some shockwaves through the industry. Especially when Marvel is shelling out hundreds of millions for each of their films.

Studios might start realizing that they don’t need to throw piles of money at a project to make it look and feel expensive. If the right talent and creativity are in play, you can make magic happen with less.

‘The Creator’s’ model might be something other filmmakers and studios try to replicate. On the flip slide, there’s a risk that studios might cut budgets, thinking every director can work that same magic. But let’s be real, not everyone has that Midas touch.

In short? The Creator just pulled off something we didn’t know could even be done. Even if it doesn’t perform spectacularly at the box office, it could be a game-changer. But of course only time will show how studios adapt.

Universal Studio Group's "No Extension" Policy 📝🎬 As writer-producers were gearing up to return to work after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, some not-so-great news hit them. Universal Studio Group, which houses Universal Television and UCP, decided to reinstate, but not extend, their overall deals that were paused during the strike. This decision, understandably, didn't sit well with many writers who saw their contracts on hold for the entire five-month strike. Now, unlike other studios that are offering extensions on a case-by-case basis, Universal is sticking to the original terms. They're turning their attention to renewing contracts they're keen on keeping. It's a move that saves big bucks for NBCUniversal but has left quite a few in the industry scratching their heads. 🤨💸📋

SAG-AFTRA & Video Game Industry: No Deal After Talks 🎮🤝❌  The much-anticipated talks between SAG-AFTRA and the video game execs have wrapped up, but sadly, no agreement's been struck. The current deal's gonna stick around while both parties give it one last shot to sort things out. This comes right after a whopping 98.32% of the 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members voted to possibly strike against major gaming companies like Activision and Epic Games. Just a heads-up, this isn't new territory – we saw a 183-day strike against these game companies back in 2016-17. Meanwhile, the union's been on strike with the film and TV world since mid-July. Let's hope they find some middle ground soon! 🤞🕹️

The Bundle Boggle in Streaming Success Metrics 📺🔢 With WGA unveiling its tentative agreement last week, a big question pops up: what counts as a subscriber? Here's the deal: writers are set to bag bonuses when their work on streaming platforms gets views from 20% or more of a platform's U.S. subscribers within three months. 🚀💰 Sounds simple, right? But here's the twist: while Netflix and Disney+ have pretty clear subscriber counts, Apple TV+ and others play their cards closer to the chest. The real head-scratcher is bundles – like Apple One which includes Apple TV+ or Amazon Prime that includes Prime Video. 🍎📦 If every Amazon Prime member counts as a subscriber, even if they never watch, then hitting those bonus targets becomes a whole new ball game. As streaming services look to add more bundled options, how we define a "subscriber" is going to be the million-dollar question. 💡🤔

Development 🗒️

• MindRiot Entertainment and E. Brian Dobbins are creating a film on the OceanGate Titan tragedy, addressing the five-day event and media's role in shaping its narrative. (more)

• Spongebob Squarepants is renewed for S15 at Nickelodeon. (more)

• Freeform acquires three series: ‘Chrissy & Dave Dine Out’ with Chrissy Teigen, ‘Royal Rules of Ohio’ on Ghanaian royalty, and crime-solving ‘Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order.’ (more)

Releases 📅

• Beyoncé's ‘Renaissance World Tour’ concert film is eyeing a Dec. 1 release in AMC theaters. (more)

• ‘Ink Master,’ hosted by Joel Madden, is returning for its 15th season on Paramount+ on Nov. 1. (more)

• Late night TV made its comeback this week following the end of the WGA strike. (more here and here)

Business 🤝

• Tiny has snagged a majority stake in Letterboxd, the go-to social platform for film buffs, aiming to boost its growth and keep the movie talk flowing. (more)

• FilmRise has acquired a selection of BuzzFeed Studios content, including the ‘Hot Ones’ web series and the ‘Unsolved’ franchise. (more)

• Starting Thursday, AMC Networks is launching its ad-supported streaming tier for $4.99. (more)

• Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, is laying off 830 employees (16% of its workforce) and divesting from Bandcamp. (more)

• Netflix faces a lawsuit from Evil Genius Games for abruptly terminating a game development contract related to Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon.' (more)

Strike News 🪧

• SAG-AFTRA will continue contract negotiations with AMPTP at the union's LA headquarters, moving from AMPTP's Sherman Oaks offices due to dissatisfaction with the previous setup. (more)

• California's Governor Gavin Newsom rejected a WGA and SAG-AFTRA-backed bill aimed at giving unemployment benefits to striking workers. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Disney's ‘Wish’ trailer garnered 66.5 million views online, becoming the studio's most-watched since ‘Frozen 2.’ (more)

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