🎬 Going Nuclear

👋 Good morning! Zoe Saldaña officially became the highest-grossing actor of all time, surpassing both Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson with over $15B in worldwide box office. Jackson held the record for years through sheer volume (a man who's appeared in roughly every movie ever made), but Saldaña found the cheat code: fewer movies, more Camerons. Turns out one Avatar sequel is worth about forty mid-budget thrillers.

Welcome back to The Dailies. You know the drill—grab your coffee and let's go. 👇

After eight rejections from WBD's board, David Ellison has apparently decided "no" is just the start of the conversation. On Monday, Paramount sued in Delaware and announced plans to go after WBD's board seats at the 2026 annual meeting. Cue the Succession theme. Hostile takeover bids don't get much more hostile than this.

The lawsuit wants WBD to show its math, specifically how the board valued Netflix's offer and how it calculated the worth of the Discovery Global spinoff. Paramount's core argument: that spinoff (the cable assets WBD shareholders would keep under the Netflix deal) could be worth as little as $0 per share once you factor in debt. If true, Netflix's total package is significantly worse than it looks on paper.

The proxy fight is the bigger swing. Because WBD is publicly traded, any shareholder can nominate candidates for its board. Paramount is doing exactly that, proposing directors who would engage with its $30/share bid instead of Netflix's. If shareholders vote them in, Paramount flips the board. The deadline to submit nominees is three weeks away.

WBD called the lawsuit "meritless" and pointed out that Paramount still hasn't raised its offer despite six weeks of press releases.

Netflix isn't standing still: Reports emerged yesterday that Netflix is considering revising its offer to all-cash. The current deal mixes cash and Netflix stock, but the stock's been sliding, shrinking the package's value. An all-cash offer would lock in the price and speed things along.

Looking ahead… Paramount's offer to buy shares directly from WBD shareholders expires January 21, but so far fewer than 400,000 shares have been tendered, a tiny fraction of the company. Shareholders won't vote on the Netflix deal until late spring or early summer. Most experts are skeptical Paramount can win without raising its bid, though the real play here may be less about winning outright and more about slowing Netflix down and extracting leverage through the legal process.

From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, HAMNET tells the story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

Now a Golden Globe WINNER for Best Picture and Best Actress, and a Critics Choice Award WINNER for Best Actress - Jessie Buckley. Chloé Zhao is nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award, and the film is a Producers Guild of America nominee for Best Film.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon just convinced Netflix to do something it almost never does: share the backend. Under their deal for ‘The Rip,’ a $100M crime thriller dropping Friday, all 1,200 cast and crew members are eligible for a one-time bonus based on how the film performs in its first 90 days on the platform.

Here's the catch: instead of Netflix's usual pay-more-upfront model, everyone (including Affleck and Damon) is riding on the backend, with payouts tied to how the movie stacks up against other Netflix titles. The specific bonus thresholds weren't disclosed, but Affleck said a "grand slam" payout would require 'KPop Demon Hunters'-level numbers (325M views), something he doesn't expect to happen.

Netflix's model has always been: we pay more upfront, you don't ask about backend. Plenty of talent signed on the dotted line. But this deal is different. It's the first time Netflix has agreed to performance bonuses for an entire cast and crew on a movie it's financing. A crack in the fortress, if you're feeling dramatic about it.

Affleck and Damon pushed for it because Artists Equity was founded on a bet: that people make better movies when they share in the upside. When the grip and the executive producer both win if the thing pops, maybe everyone tries a little harder. Fewer half-efforts. More "let's get this right." That's the theory, anyway.

Looking ahead… Netflix isn't changing its model, but CCO Bela Bajaria says she's open to more deals like this. Having Affleck-Damon clout doesn't hurt. But the timing matters: this lands as Netflix bids for Warner Bros. and more talent questions whether flat fees can sustain a career. Not everyone's getting backend again, but it looks like if you've got the leverage, the door's open.

NBC just ordered pilots for a 'Rockford Files' reboot and 'Protection,' a U.S. Marshals drama from 'Quantico' creator Josh Safran and Jenna Bush Hager. But according to Deadline, these early greenlights are part of a larger play to bring back the traditional pilot season model.

Since the pandemic, networks have largely ditched the old January-February pilot window in favor of year-round development and straight-to-series orders. Now NBC is aiming to greenlight 5-7 pilots this cycle in time to present to advertisers at the May upfronts.

Looking ahead… If NBC hits its target, it would be the most pilots any broadcast network has produced in a single cycle since pre-COVID.