🎬 IMAX for Sale

👋 Good morning, and congrats on making it to the long weekend. When the original 'Star Wars' opened on Memorial Day 1977, it quietly turned this weekend into Hollywood's unofficial start of the summer box office. The franchise has basically treated it as its own ever since (the entire original trilogy opened on Memorial Day weekend). Forty-nine years later, the Force shows up on time: 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' hits theaters today.

Quick heads up: we're going dark Monday, but we'll be back in your inbox after the long weekend with holiday box office and everything else you missed. Now, let's get you caught up before you fire up the grill. 👇

Top-streamed chart (U.S.) May 13 to May 20. Data provided by Luminate.

Netflix is putting yet another major release in theaters. David Fincher's 'The Adventures of Cliff Booth' is getting an exclusive IMAX run starting November 25, before hitting the streamer on December 23. Brad Pitt returns as Cliff Booth (his Oscar-winning role from 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'), this time set in 1977 Hollywood, from a script by Quentin Tarantino, who originally planned to direct before handing it to Fincher.

That Thanksgiving slot was previously Greta Gerwig's, before a production delay pushed 'Narnia' to a full wide release in February with a 49-day window and its own IMAX run. The original deal hadn't sat well with studios and exhibitors to begin with—a streamer taking prime holiday IMAX screens during the box office recovery was never going to land well.

This time, AMC is facilitating the deal. For years, AMC and Netflix had a frosty relationship, with AMC refusing to play ball with Netflix's short windows. But theaters have been starved for volume as legacy studio output has dropped, and after 'KPop Demon Hunters' proved a short Netflix run could move the needle, AMC seems to have decided that having Netflix in the building beats the alternative.

For a while, the read on Netflix and theatrical was simple: a week here, a limited run there, mostly to stay eligible for awards and keep A-list filmmakers happy. But a pattern’s forming. After losing out on acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix is leaning into theatrical on its own terms. In the span of roughly 18 months, they'll have had close to five theatrical events.

There's a harder business reality underneath all this. US subscriber growth has plateaued, and price hikes are drawing increasing scrutiny. Theatrical isn't just a prestige move anymore. It's a potential new revenue stream, and if these bets start paying off, expect it to become a much bigger part of how Netflix operates.

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🎙️ Netflix is getting into the morning show business. Starting June 1, iHeartMedia's 'The Breakfast Club,' the New York morning show co-hosted by Charlamagne tha God, will stream live on Netflix daily. It’ll be the platform's first daily live program. The show landed on Netflix in January as part of a broader push into podcasts, partnering with iHeartMedia and Spotify to test the waters. 'The Breakfast Club' dominated from the jump, pulling 40%+ of the platform's podcast views in Q1. Going live daily is the next step, and it fits into a growing and eclectic live slate that already includes NFL games, WWE 'Raw,' and comedy roasts.

📽️ IMAX is on the market. The premium cinema giant is exploring a sale and has already approached entertainment companies as potential buyers (they say the process is early and may not result in a deal). IMAX is riding a wave right now: its domestic box office share has grown from 3.2% to 5.2% since 2019, and premium screens now account for 16% of U.S. ticket sales (up from 13% in 2021). At $1.85B, it's a pretty manageable acquisition for most major players. That said, a studio acquiring IMAX would raise immediate conflict of interest questions, since all the majors compete for those screens. IMAX shares jumped on the announcement.

📍 'Prison Break' is coming back to L.A. The Hulu/20th Century reboot shot its pilot in West Virginia, but an $18.9M tax credit under California's expanded incentive program (which more than doubled its annual cap to $750M last year) brought it back west for the series. It'll film partly at Radford Studio Center, a storied lot that couldn't fill its 22 stages and defaulted on a $1.1B mortgage. Between a major production back on its stages and Netflix in talks to buy it, the lot may have some brighter days ahead. Not a full comeback yet, but shoot days in L.A. are up roughly 10% since January, so the expanded tax credit program seems to be moving the needle.

The competition is nearly wrapped. Here's what screened over the last two days.

Looking ahead… Two more competition films screen today: Léa Mysius's 'The Birthday Party,' and Valeska Grisebach's 'The Dreamed Adventure.' Those are the last two before the jury deliberates and the Palme d'Or ceremony wraps things up tomorrow.

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🎥 THEATRICAL

📺 STREAMING

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Memorial Day is Mando's for the taking, with 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' now projected for a $85-95M three-day opening despite mixed reviews. 'Michael' should hold strong in second with another $15-20M weekend. Third place is a coin flip between 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' and word-of-mouth hit 'Obsession.'