🎬 It's Different This Time

👋 Good morning! 'Alien: Earth’s' release has fans diving deep into franchise history, including one of Hollywood's greatest pitch stories: back in the '80s, James Cameron walked into a studio meeting for the 'Alien' sequel, wrote "ALIEN" on a piece of paper, added an S, then drew two vertical lines through it to make "ALIEN$." The execs said yes on the spot. Cameron has since confirmed this actually happened. That $18.5M bet returned $180M.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend! Emmy voters, time to cast your ballots. Final-Round Voting for the 77th Emmy Awards opens today at 9am PT. Now let's jump into those weekend box office numbers and get you caught up on Hollywood’s latest.👇

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Weapons’ keeps its edge…

1. 👧 Weapons: (Wk 2) $25M domestic weekend (-43%), $89M domestic total, $148.8M global. WB's horror thriller held way better than most horror films do, showing this $38M production has genuine word-of-mouth momentum.

2. 👻 Freakier Friday: (Wk 2) $14.5M domestic weekend (-49%), $54.8M domestic total, $86.3M global. Disney's body-swap sequel keeps working its magic with solid word-of-mouth, showing the studio made a smart bet bringing back the original duo for just $45M.

3. 🔫 Nobody 2: 🆕 $9.25M domestic opening, $14.2M global debut. Odenkirk's suburban assassin sequel basically matched the original's pandemic debut. Not the franchise-building breakout Universal was hoping for, but perfectly fine for a $25M action movie heading to PVOD in three weeks.

4. 🦸 The Fantastic Four: First Steps: (Wk 4) $8.8M domestic weekend (-44%), $247M domestic total, $468.7M global.

5. 🐺 The Bad Guys 2: (Wk 3) $7.5M domestic weekend (-29%), $57.2M domestic total, $117.4M global.

6. 🦸‍♂️ Superman: (Wk 6) $5.3M domestic weekend (-34%), $340.9M domestic total, $594.5M global. DC's latest holds strong despite hitting digital.

7. 🔫 The Naked Gun: (Wk 3) $4.8M domestic weekend (-42%), $42M domestic total, $72.9M global.

8. 🦕 Jurassic World Rebirth: (Wk 7) $2.9M domestic weekend (-40%), $332.1M domestic total, $828.6M global.

9. 🏎️ F1: The Movie: (Wk 8) $2.66M domestic weekend (-9%), $182.8M domestic total, $590M global.

10. 🇯🇵 Shin Godzilla: 🆕 $1.6M domestic opening from 1,290 theaters. GKIDS brings the kaiju classic back for a respectable specialty release.

The big picture: It was a sleepy $85.9M weekend, down from $140M from last year when 'Alien: Romulus' was packing theaters. Summer 2025 is still hanging onto a slim 2% lead over last year at $3.4B, but that $4B milestone is looking increasingly out of reach.

CLOSEUP
📱Quibi walked so microdramas could run…

Five years after Quibi's infamous demise, a group of Hollywood veterans are trying the bite-sized mobile TV thing again. This time with 99% less budget and 100% more shameless content. Lloyd Braun (former ABC Entertainment chief), Jana Winograde (ex-Showtime president), Susan Rovner (ex-NBCUniversal content chair), and Chris McGurk (Cineverse CEO) just announced MicroCo, and they swear this time is different.

What they're making: The opposite of Emmy-bait. These are 1-3 minute vertical videos with soap opera plots on steroids. Think ‘Pregnant by My Ex's Professor Dad’ (yes, that’s an actual ReelShort title). Episodes hook you in 3 seconds, hit a cliffhanger by 23 seconds, then make you pay to see what happens next. It's TikTok meets telenovela.

Why they think it’ll actually work this time…

• It’s literally 99% cheaper than Quibi: While Quibi burned $100,000+ per minute producing prestige content, MicroCo's using AI to make shows for just $1,500 per minute.

• The demand’s already there: Micro-dramas are already a $7B business in China, and while Americans make up only 8% of users, they generate 50% of global revenue.

• Timing’s everything: Post-pandemic, post-TikTok viewers are primed for bite-sized phone content in a way they weren't in 2020.

• It’s a better business model: Instead of Quibi's subscription-only model that nobody wanted, MicroCo's going freemium—hook viewers with free episodes, then charge for the endings.

Looking ahead… The app launches in 2026, just as the micro-drama market is projected to hit $10B globally by 2027.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

“Shrinking” follows a grieving therapist who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives… including his own. "Shrinking" has been nominated for 7 Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series.

Stream all episodes on Apple TV+

WIDESHOT
🎬 Taylor Sheridan, YouTube, and Roblox…

🤠 Taylor Sheridan is building a massive studio in Texas. The 'Yellowstone' creator is partnering with Paramount and billionaire Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood to build a 450,000-square-foot production complex in Fort Worth, the state's largest studio facility. The venture follows Texas's new $1.5B film incentive program, which Sheridan, Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson lobbied for. Built on Perot's 27,000-acre campus, the studio shows Paramount's commitment to its most valuable creator, with new boss David Ellison already expressing interest in extending Sheridan's contract when it expires in 2028. 'Landman,' 'The Madison,' and 'Lioness' will film there this year.

🏆 YouTube is making a play for the Academy Awards. The Google-owned video platform has reportedly inquired about acquiring the Oscars broadcast rights when Disney's contract expires in 2028. YouTube's push into live events already includes NFL Sunday Ticket and a growing sports roster, but landing the Oscars would be huge for a platform that isn't a traditional Hollywood player. YouTube’s literally the world's most-watched video platform and could offer massive global reach without paywalls, a potential lifeline for a show facing declining relevance. Still, it faces stiff competition from NBC, Netflix, and others who bring broadcast-streaming combinations plus studio relationships.

🎮 Studios rely on Roblox to reach Gen Alpha, but now the platform faces predator lawsuits. Multiple complaints filed this week allege the platform hasn't protected its 111.8M daily users from predators, including a 10-year-old allegedly exploited by an adult posing as a child. Studios increasingly use Roblox to reach younger audiences: Sony's recent 'Karate Kid' game and Universal's 'How to Train Your Dragon' experience each have millions of visits, while Netflix opened 'Stranger Things' and 'Squid Game' to developers this year. With Gen Alpha spending 2.5 hours daily there, mounting legal pressure could complicate Hollywood's newest marketing channel.

STATISTIC
📉 Streamers have slashed scripted orders by 24%…

The top six streamers ordered just 242 scripted TV shows globally in the first half of 2025, down from 318 in the same period of 2024, according to Ampere Analysis. Amazon cut orders by more than half, while Netflix and Apple barely changed (down 6% and 4% respectively).

The cuts were mostly in international markets. While North America stayed flat and Latin America actually grew 17%, Asia-Pacific dropped 52% (driven largely by Amazon's pullback in India) and Western Europe fell 44%.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Dakota Fanning horror film ‘Vicious’ skips theaters, premiering Oct. 10 on Paramount+ after debuting at Fantastic Fest. (more)

• Regina Hall and Anna Faris are set to return in a new ‘Scary Movie’ reboot from the Wayans Brothers. (more)

• Matthew McConaughey’s ‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ eyes U.S. theatrical release via Black Bear’s new distribution arm after SXSW acclaim. (more)

• Kristen Wiig joins ‘Masters of the Universe’ as the voice of Roboto in Amazon and Mattel’s live-action film, releasing June 5, 2026. (more)

• Netflix unveils six new Mexican films including ‘México 86,’ starring Diego Luna, as part of its $1B commitment to local content. (more)

TV Development 📺

• ‘Coven Academy’ teen witch dramedy from ‘High School Musical’ creator Tim Federle gets series order at Disney+, debuting in 2026. (more)

• Shawn Hatosy returns to ‘The Pitt’ S2 as Dr. Jack Abbot and will also direct an episode of the HBO Max medical drama. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Locarno Fest top prize goes to ‘Two Seasons, Two Strangers’ by Sho Miyake, with ‘White Snail’ and ‘Blue Heron’ also earning major honors. (more)

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
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