🎬 Hot Seat to Hot Streak

👋 Good morning! While everyone else is launching traditional FYC campaigns, IFC just had a dog formally petition the Academy. The studio released an open letter signed by Indy, star of 'Good Boy' (the horror film told from a dog’s POV), asking why he's been "deemed ineligible for the Best Actor category" and lamenting he's "not a good enough boy" for them. The film's trailer went viral with over 100M views and 'Good Boy' opened to $2.2M, making it IFC's second-best opening weekend ever.

Welcome aboard the Dailies. Friday's here and so are we with your final industry briefing before the weekend. First up, let’s take a look at what everyone was streaming this week. 👇

TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…

How last week’s releases are stacking up…

• 🔫 Play Dirty: (Prime Video) Pulled in an impressive 7.5M U.S. views in its debut week according to Luminate. Just shy of 'Heads of State' (9.2M views), which is Prime's biggest movie of 2025 so far, but still a big win. ‘Play Dirty’ was the most-streamed movie across platforms this week.

• 🚌 The Lost Bus: (Apple TV+) Hit 2.4M U.S. views over its opening weekend. A pretty strong showing for Apple, and it’s already their 5th most-watched film of the year in the U.S.

•  🔪 Monster: The Ed Gein Story: (Netflix) Pulled in 12.2M views globally in its first three days according to Netflix data, landing at #2 on the English TV chart. Nearly matched S2's 'Monsters: The Menendez Brothers' debut (12.3M views), and that was over four days.

• 👀 Love is Blind: (Netflix) S9 pulled in 12.6M hours watched and 1.9M season views in the U.S. week one, noticeably cooler than last season's 17.5M hours and 2.5M season views.

Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Oct. 3 to Oct. 9. Data provided by Luminate.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Mike & Pam, YouTubers, and Netflix games…

🔥 Warner Bros. film chiefs just got the official stamp of approval. Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy (who run the movie studio) just had their contracts renewed. Hard to believe that just months ago, everyone thought they were goners after costly flops like 'Joker: Folie à Deux' and 'Mickey 17.' At the time, there were reports that CEO David Zaslav was actively interviewing replacements. But their strategy of giving auteurs bigger budgets for original films turned the hot seat into a hot streak: 'Sinners' ($366M on a $90M budget), 'Weapons' ($266M), and 'A Minecraft Movie' ($957M) helped the studio surpass $4B globally this year with just 11 films, a feat not achieved since 2019. They landed nine debuts at #1 and hold three of the year's top ten highest-grossing films worldwide.

📺 YouTubers are turning their channels into... actual TV channels. MrBeast, Dhar Mann, and other top creators are launching FAST channels on platforms like Samsung TV Plus and Roku. These are basically 24/7 free ad-supported linear streams of their videos where viewers tune into whatever's playing, pretty much just like traditional TV. Creator content now sits right alongside BBC News and Paramount movies in the channel guide. The FAST market is exploding toward $32.5B by 2030, and these creator partnerships are benefiting both parties: Creators get revenue splits of 50-50 or higher in their favor, or lucrative licensing fees, while reaching ~115M streaming households. Platforms, meanwhile, get proven content from creators who've already mastered keeping audiences glued to screens.

🎮 Netflix is turning your TV into a game console. The streamer is bringing video games to TV screens for the first time, rolling out party games like Boggle Party, Pictionary, and Lego Party that subscribers can play together using their phones as controllers. Netflix has actually been offering mobile games for four years, but they've struggled to gain traction, so now they're targeting the living room instead. Players scan a QR code to turn their phones into controllers, and all the games are free with subscription. It's part of Netflix's broader shift toward increasing engagement and reducing churn now that subscriber growth has plateaued in North America. Co-CEO Greg Peters admitted on Wednesday he's "not happy" that viewing time has been pretty flat over the past couple years, so TV gaming is one bet on changing that.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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ICYMI
⚡️ Quick hits…

🏗️ New York is in the midst of a production space boom, with two new Brooklyn studios totaling 600,000 square feet joining several other recent developments. The state recently increased tax credits to $800M annually, hoping to fill these facilities even though production spending is projected down 15% in 2025 versus 2019.

🔗 Paramount's potential bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly taking shape, with Apollo Global Management and Legendary Entertainment joining talks (though CEO David Ellison declined to comment this week). Separately, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters ruled out Netflix's rumored interest in making a bid for WBD.

💼 TKO and WME chief Ari Emanuel has launched MARI, a $2B-backed holding company focused on live events and experiences like Frieze art fairs, tennis tournaments, and Barrett-Jackson auctions. It's not far from what he tried building at Endeavor, but Wall Street never quite saw the vision.

📱 Fox is the latest to jump on the vertical microdrama trend, taking an equity stake in an AI-powered company called Holywater. Holywater already boasts 55M downloads across its vertical video platforms. Fox has committed to produce over 200 vertical titles in the next two years, with the first two already shooting in Atlanta.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Taron Egerton and Jessica Henwick will star in Studiocanal and LuckyChap’s comedy thriller ‘Everybody Wants to F*ck Me.’ (more)

• Bradley Cooper is in talks to star opposite Margot Robbie in Warner Bros.’ ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ prequel directed by Lee Isaac Chung. (more)

• Cynthia Erivo will star in Warner Bros. and Locksmith Animation’s upcoming animated musical ‘Bad Fairies,’ set for release in 2027. (more)

• Jessica Biel will star in and produce ‘The Ambler Warning,’ as her Iron Ocean inks a first-look deal with Paramount TV Studios. (more)

• Apple Original Films and Chernin Entertainment are developing the action thriller ‘Five Secrets,’ written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. (more)

• Magnolia Pictures has acquired John Early’s satirical melodrama ‘Maddie’s Secret,’ with a theatrical release planned for 2026. (more)

• Charli xcx has unveiled the full cast of her A24 film ‘The Moment,’ featuring Kylie Jenner, Alexander Skarsgård, and Rachel Sennott. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Paramount+ has greenlit ‘9/12,’ a limited series starring Jeremy Strong about 9/11 first responders’ legal battle for justice. (more)

• Dana Fox and Nicholas Stoller are developing a scripted TV adaptation of the classic board game ‘Clue’ for Sony Pictures Television and Hasbro. (more)

• Scott Z. Burns has exited as showrunner of Netflix’s Silicon Valley drama ‘Thumblite,’ with K.C. Perry in talks to take over. (more)

• 20th Century Studios has won a bidding war for ‘Crush,’ a python survival thriller written by Temple Hill exec John Fischer. (more)

• MGM+ has acquired U.S. and international rights to Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin’s mystery thriller ‘Vanished,’ premiering February 2026. (more)

• Rob Lowe will star in and executive produce NBC’s new Secret Service drama ‘The Detail.’ (more)

Business 🤝

• Angel Studios and 2521 Entertainment have acquired the ‘David’ animated franchise for $78M. (more)

• Charlie Sheen has launched film and TV banner STRAC Media with Todd Christopher and signed with WME to expand his production ventures. (more)

• Tom Brady’s Shadow Lion has hired Philip Byron as Head of Original Content as the company expands into film, scripted, and documentary projects. (more)

RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Tron: Ares: Third Tron installment with Jared Leto and Greta Lee.

• Roofman: Crime comedy with Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst.

• Soul on Fire: Bio-drama with William H. Macy, directed by Sean McNamara.

• Kiss of the Spider Woman: Musical with Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna.

• After the Hunt: (Limited) Psychological thriller with Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, directed by Luca Guadagnino.

📺 STREAMING

• The Chair Company: (HBO) Comedy series starring Tim Robinson.

• The Last Frontier: (Apple TV+) Thriller drama series with Jason Clarke.

• The Woman in Cabin 10: (Netflix) Psychological thriller with Keira Knightley and Guy Pearce.

• Boots: (Netflix) Military comedy-drama series with Vera Farmiga, Miles Heizer, created by Andy Parker.

• Vicious: (Paramount+) Horror with Dakota Fanning.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Disney's 'Tron: Ares' looks to open around $40-45M this weekend, which is decent but not spectacular for the long-awaited sequel. Channing Tatum's quirky true-crime comedy 'Roofman' should bring in $8-10M as counter-programming, while Jennifer Lopez's 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' is only expected to do $1-3M despite opening in 1,300 theaters. It's basically a placeholder weekend until the big holiday movies arrive.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments