🎬 King of the Box Office

👋 Good morning. Method acting is one thing, but Kane Parsons apparently needed method set design. The 20-year-old director built a 30,000-square-foot labyrinth for his A24 debut 'Backrooms,’ the internet urban legend about an infinite maze of yellow wallpaper and humming fluorescent lights you can't escape, and crew members literally started getting lost in it. The film opens May 29. The crew has mostly been accounted for.

Welcome back to The Dailies. Monday again. Let's get into it. 👇

The bigger picture: 'Michael' gave theaters exactly what they needed after a few weeks of holdover-dependent doldrums. YTD domestic is now at $2.6B, up 17% over last year. 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' is tracking $60M next weekend, and 'Mortal Kombat 2' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' are still to come in May.

'Michael' opened to $97M domestic and $217.4M worldwide this weekend, the biggest biopic opening in box office history and the second-biggest opening of 2026 behind 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.' Tracking had it at $50-65M, but the film moonwalked right past. That overperformance is impressive given everything that went sideways during production:

Critics largely panned it (38% on Rotten Tomatoes), citing the film's conspicuous omission of the child sexual abuse allegations that defined much of Jackson's later career. It didn’t seem to matter to audiences: CinemaScore A-, 97% on RT's audience meter. The gap between critic and audience reception is one of the widest in recent memory for a film this size.

It's also another reminder that music biopics remain one of the few genres audiences will reliably leave the house for. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' made $910M. 'Elvis' crossed $288M. 'A Complete Unknown' pulled $140M. Now 'Michael' has reset the ceiling. And there's plenty more coming: Sony's releasing four Sam Mendes-directed Beatles films in 2028 (one per Beatle), and Universal just announced a Snoop Dogg biopic at CinemaCon.

Looking ahead… For Lionsgate, it's a genuine lifeline after a rough couple of years. If 'Michael' hits $700M worldwide (looking increasingly doable), a sequel is reportedly locked, with up to 30% of cut footage usable. And Japan, where Jackson was practically national infrastructure, hasn't even opened yet.

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🗳️ Writers officially ratified their new contract. WGA voting closed Friday with 90% approval on the new four-year deal, though only about half as many members voted as in 2023 (roughly 4,700 ballots versus 9,000-plus). For most, dodging another strike was reason enough to say yes. The healthcare side was the bitter pill: in exchange for a $321M studio infusion to save the guild's ailing health fund, members agreed to monthly premiums and a higher earnings threshold to qualify for coverage. SAG-AFTRA picks up the baton today, and they're hoping to wrap a deal before the DGA steps in on May 11. Both unions are walking in with their own strained health and pension plans, so expect similar trade-offs at the table.

📻 Two of America's biggest audio companies may be joining forces. iHeartMedia, the largest radio station owner in the U.S., is in early talks to merge with SiriusXM, the satellite giant behind 'Call Her Daddy' and Howard Stern. The two are also the 3rd and 1st biggest podcast networks in the country. Music mogul Irving Azoff and Apollo Global Management are reportedly playing matchmaker. Both have been building out their podcast slates as radio listenership declines, and a combined company would create a massive player in a space that every major streamer is chasing. Netflix is the loudest example, with video podcast deals across Spotify, iHeartMedia, and Barstool Sports, and Hulu's right behind, building out its own slate.

📚 The book and screen businesses are more intertwined than ever. Netflix released data last week showing book-based titles drove over 9B views and nearly 20% of all hours watched in 2025. The off-platform numbers are just as striking: 'People We Meet on Vacation' saw a 515% spike in audiobook listens on Spotify after its premiere, 'His & Hers' a 494% surge, and 'Finding Her Edge' a 990% jump, with global searches for the book up 1,300%. Each premiere revives backlist titles, makes the next greenlight easier, and sells more books. Studios are starting to think of book IP less as raw material and more as an audience already in motion. At this point, it's less of a pipeline and more of a feedback loop.

iQIYI (essentially China's Netflix) says AI will generate the majority of its films and shows by 2031, and launched Nadou Pro, an end-to-end AI filmmaking suite covering everything from scriptwriting to final rendering. A few other details:

It's partly a vision play, partly a survival move. iQIYI's revenue is down an estimated 13% this quarter, squeezed by short-video rivals like Douyin (TikTok's Chinese counterpart). CEO Gong Yu sees China's film industry stuck in a vicious cycle where rising production costs and shrinking audiences are strangling output, and he's betting AI is the way out.

The bigger picture: China is moving faster and more openly toward AI-generated content than any Western player has been willing to. The assumption in Hollywood is that Netflix, Amazon, and the major studios are running the same experiments quietly. Of course, big AI promises have a way of fizzling. But iQIYI's five-year roadmap may be less of a curiosity and more of a preview of the competitive pressure Hollywood will eventually have to answer.

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