🎬 Gen Z Goldmine

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👋 Good morning! More than 1,000 industry workers rallied in Los Angeles this weekend, pushing for expanded tax incentives to keep productions in Southern California. SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher summed it up with a battle cry: "Make Hollywood Hollywood again!" as they urged lawmakers to boost the state's film incentives ceiling from $330M to $750M annually.

Welcome to The Dailies. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we'll get you caught up on the latest industry happenings before your first meeting. So settle in with your coffee (skip the coconut milk though, it’s off) and enjoy today’s industry roundup. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here. 👈👀

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Box Office Breakdown

• ‘Minecraft’ Cracks the Gen Z Code

• Build Your Own Netflix

• From Reddit to Blockbuster

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Call Sheet: The week ahead

• Martini Shot 🍸

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

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ The biggest video game adaptation opening ever…

1. 🧱 A Minecraft Movie: 🆕 $157M domestic opening, $301M global. Warner Bros./Legendary's video game adaptation shatters records with the biggest debut of 2025. Smashes ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie's’ record ($146.36M) for biggest video game adaptation opening ever.

2. 🔨 A Working Man: (Wk 2) $7.28M domestic weekend (-53%), $27.82M domestic total. Amazon MGM's latest holds decently in its sophomore frame.

3. ✝️ The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 2: 🆕 $6.7M domestic opening. Fathom Events' faith-based release underperforms compared to Part 1's $11.8M debut last weekend, but still lands at #3.

4. 👸 Snow White: (Wk 3) $6.09M domestic weekend (-58%), $77.46M domestic total. Disney's troubled adaptation continues to struggle.

5. 👩 The Woman in the Yard: (Wk 2) $4.5M domestic weekend (-52%), $16.67M domestic total. Maintains modest momentum in its second frame.

6. 🦄 Death of a Unicorn: (Wk 2) $2.7M domestic weekend (-53%), $10.78M domestic total. A24's quirky offering drops at the same rate as other holdovers.

7. ✝️ The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 1: (Wk 2) $1.87M domestic weekend (-84%), $17.92M domestic total. Despite the steep drop, Part 1 has become the highest-grossing ‘Chosen’ theatrical release.

8. 🔪 Hell of a Summer: 🆕 $1.75M domestic opening. Neon's horror-comedy from ‘Stranger Things'‘ Finn Wolfhard and ‘Ghostbusters'‘ Billy Bryk lands with a thud, garnering poor reviews (48% RT) and weak audience scores (53%).

9. 👫 The Friend: (Wk 2) $1.62M domestic weekend (+2,292%), $1.7M domestic total. Bleecker Street's drama explodes with a massive expansion after limited release last weekend.

10. 🛡️ Captain America: Brave New World: (Wk 8) $1.39M domestic weekend (-52%), $199.12M domestic total. Nears the $200M milestone domestically.

The Big Picture: The box office exploded to $196M overall (+152% from last week, +129% YoY), delivering its best weekend of 2025 thanks to ‘Minecraft's’ stunning debut. It’s a crucial win for Warner Bros. after a rough 6 months for the studio. More on ‘A Minecraft Movie’ below. 👇

CLOSEUP
🎥 ‘Minecraft’ cracked the Gen Z code…

Warner Bros. Discovery's ‘A Minecraft Movie’ just shattered expectations with a $301M global opening weekend, becoming the biggest video game adaptation debut ever. But the real story? Hollywood finally figured out how to get Gen Z off their phones and into theaters.

The elusive youth audience finally shows up…

For years, studios have struggled to attract young viewers who, according to Deloitte's latest media trends survey, find social media content "more relevant than traditional TV shows and movies." Roughly half of Gen Z feels a stronger connection to social media creators than to Hollywood actors.

Yet ‘Minecraft’ theaters transformed into what some are calling "pure chaos" with middle schoolers "cheering, clapping, and jumping onto seats" mid-screening.

📊 Who's actually watching?

• 13-17 year olds: 35% of audience (85% approval)

• 18-24 year olds: 43% of audience (70% approval)

• Under 18 crowd: Perfect A CinemaScore

These demographics represent exactly the viewers that have been abandoning traditional entertainment for TikTok and YouTube.

So, why did it work?

• Nostalgia for the right generation: Studios have spent years chasing millennial and boomer dollars with reboots like ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Star Wars,’ treating younger viewers as an afterthought while appealing to their parents' nostalgia. ‘Minecraft’ targets what today's kids actually care about. The game, released in 2011, represents nostalgia for today’s teens who grew up building and exploring its blocky world.

• Authenticity to source material: Where past video game adaptations failed by trying to "Hollywood-ize" the games with convoluted plots and tonal shifts, ‘Minecraft’ embraces its blocky aesthetic and playful spirit. The film doesn't try to make the game "cinematic"—it celebrates what fans already love. This created theater moments described as "pandemonium" with children screaming "Chicken Jockey!" and other catchphrases from the game during screenings.

• The communal experience: Despite streaming convenience, seeing the film with other passionate fans created a concert-like atmosphere that can't be replicated at home.

The big picture: It’s a big win all-around. The record-shattering video game adaptation (now holding the all-time opening record for the genre) arrives just when the industry needed it most—giving Warner Bros. a much-needed victory and injecting life into 2025's sluggish Q1 box office. ‘Minecraft’ proves that Gen Z will still show up to theaters—they just need a compelling reason that speaks their language, not Hollywood's.

Looking ahead… ‘Minecraft’ joins recent hits like ‘Super Mario,’ ‘Sonic’ and ‘Five Nights at Freddy's’ in boosting the once-maligned video game movie genre. Expect to see studios try to match this success—‘Super Mario 2,’ ‘Zelda’ and more are already in the pipeline. The real question: which studio will be first to option ‘Fortnite’ or ‘Roblox’?

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WIDESHOT
🎬 Vimeo’s ‘Build Your Own Netflix” kit, and mining IP…

🎥📺 Vimeo wants every creator to have their own Netflix. Vimeo is launching "Vimeo Streaming," letting anyone create their own subscription streaming service without technical skills. Think of it as a "build your own Netflix" kit—creators can design a branded platform, launch apps, and choose how they want to make money (subscriptions, rentals, or ads). Comedy platform Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor) is already using it successfully, focusing on making funny content while Vimeo handles the tech side. As creators increasingly operate like full-fledged media companies, Vimeo’s betting they’ll want to own their distribution too, and escape platform-dependency. Vimeo says it works for all kinds of creators—from fitness instructors and educators to sports broadcasters and performing arts groups. The streaming wars might be getting a whole new battlefront: creator-owned media empires that cut out the Big Tech middleman completely.

📰🤝 Unconventional source material is TV's hot new wellspring. Max has landed the rights to develop a drama series based on the Vanity Fair’s ‘NYPD Confidential,’ an article about counterterrorism efforts in New York City. While adapting articles and other real-world content isn't new or ground-breaking, we’re seeing studios mining IP from increasingly quirky corners these days. Sydney Sweeney is transforming a viral Reddit short story posted by a high school English teacher into a Warner Bros. feature film, with Oscar-winner Eric Roth handling the script. Meanwhile, Daily Mail has teamed up with Storied Media Group to shop its massive catalog of articles to Hollywood. The industry's appetite for juicy real-life stories and viral content with ready-made audiences keeps growing, offering both fresh creative material and potential viewership in today's crowded content battlefield. Who knows… your next viral TikTok could be next season's breakout hit.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Sony is developing a film adaptation of Tom King’s Love ‘Everlasting’ comic, with Lenny Abrahamson directing. (more)

• Jesse Armstrong’s HBO film ‘Mountainhead,’ starring Steve Carell, will premiere May 31. (more)

TV Development 📺

• David E. Talbert is developing a TV comedy based on his upcoming memoir ‘Everything I Know About Being a Man (I Learned From a Woman).’ (more)

• Logan Lerman has joined the cast of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ S5 in a recurring role. (more)

• Amazon Prime Video has ordered ‘Taurasi,’ a three-part docuseries chronicling the life and career of WNBA and Olympic star Diana Taurasi. (more)

• Sophina Brown, Jeff Pierre, and Cedric Joe have joined the main cast of Courtney A. Kemp’s Netflix crime drama ‘Nemesis.’ (more)

Business 🤝

• Kelly Day has been promoted to oversee International Originals at Prime Video following Jennifer Salke’s exit. (more)

• AI video startup Runway has raised $308M in funding, boosting its valuation to over $3B as it expands its filmmaking-focused tech and partnerships. (more)

• President Trump has extended TikTok’s deadline by 75 days to secure a new U.S. owner and avoid a nationwide ban. (more)

Other News 🚨

• ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will debut as a fully immersive experience at the Las Vegas Sphere starting Aug. 28. (more)

• WGA members at CBS News have ratified a new three-year contract that includes key AI protections, wage increases, and improved benefits. (more)

• SAG-AFTRA has extended its commercials contracts deadline to April 11 to allow more time for ongoing negotiations with advertisers. (more)

• The 2025 Olivier Awards were held last night at London’s Royal Albert Hall, celebrating outstanding achievements in British theatre. (more)

• Turn screenplay PDFs into listenable audio in minutes—only with Screenplayer. (more)*

  _*sponsored

CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead

• WEDNESDAY: NAB Show wraps

• THURSDAY: The Cannes Film Festival announces the Official Selection for its 78th Edition 💫

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VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments