🎬 Data Drop 📊

👋 Good morning! Anya Taylor-Joy only has 30 lines in the upcoming ‘Mad Max’ prequel, ‘Furiosa,’ hitting theaters this weekend. Director George Miller believes this minimalist approach is key to high-speed storytelling, saying, "The problem with dialogue is that it tends to slow things down."

Welcome aboard the Dailies. As you sip your morning brew, we’ll get you caught up with the fast-paced world of Hollywood - no need to chase down a newsstand, we’ve got everything you need right here.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Cannes Update

• Netflix Drops Data

• Sundance Considers Relocating

• Last Looks 👀: Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Release Radar: What to watch this weekend

• Video Village 📀

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, it’s Friday, so let’s take a look at what people were watching this week… 👀

TOP STREAMED THIS WEEK IN THE US

Cannes Enters Day 11
Highlights & Reviews

Competition & Screenings

As the Cannes Film Festival’s end approaches, the festival jury, led by director Greta Gerwig, has the important job of choosing the winner of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize. This year’s jury is a diverse group of talents, including Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, and French actor Omar Sy.

They will watch and evaluate all 22 films in competition, considering factors like storytelling, direction, and overall impact, before announcing the winner at the festival's closing ceremony on May 25th.

Let’s take a look at some of the films that premiered in the past couple days:

• 🎬 All We Imagine as Light: Directed by Payal Kapadia, this Mumbai-set drama follows two nurses facing personal and professional challenges. First Indian film in competition in 30 years. Critics praised its emotional depth.

• 🎬 Beating Hearts: Gilles Lellouche’s French tale of childhood sweethearts reuniting after jail, praised for its romance but criticized for melodrama. Reviews were mixed.

• 🎬 Motel Destino: Directed by Karim Aïnouz, this tropical noir features a dangerous love triangle in a Brazilian beach town. Striking visuals but loses momentum. Critics had mixed reviews.

• 🎬 Grand Tour: Miguel Gomes’ colonial romance set in 1918 Southeast Asia blends past and present. Captivating visuals, but abstract storytelling. Critics were divided.

Market Updates

• Netflix acquires ‘Monsanto,’ a legal drama starring Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie, and Laura Dern, for $30M. (more)

• Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ secures additional international distribution deals. (more)

• Liam Neeson will star in the action-thriller ‘Mongoose,’ featuring an epic cross-country car chase, with Amazon securing international rights for around $20M at the Cannes market. (more)

• Netflix is in talks to acquire ‘Emilia Pérez,’ a trans crime musical starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofia Gascón. (more)

📺📊 Netflix has dropped another round of viewership data in its ‘What We Watched’ report. The latest insights from July to December 2023 reveal some intriguing trends and top-performing titles. Let’s dive into the highlights:

• The top movie was ‘Leave the World Behind’ with 121M views.

• ‘Beckham’ and ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ are top non-scripted titles with 43.9M and 271M views respectively

• Netflix calculates views by dividing total hours watched by a show's runtime, meaning shorter series can have high view counts even if their total watch time is lower.

• ‘Love Is Blind’ S4 had 230M hours watched, more than ‘Beckham’ and ‘Squid Game: The Challenge.’

• Combining all seasons, ‘Suits’ totaled 146M views.

• Non-English titles account for about a third of all viewing on Netflix.

• International shows like ‘One Piece,’ ‘Dear Child,’ ‘Lupin: Part 3,’ ‘Who Is Erin Carter?,’ and ‘Sex Education’ S4 are popular, making a significant impact on Netflix viewership.

• Licensed content like ‘Ballers’ (33.5M views) and ‘Insecure’ (14.4M views) help maintain consistent viewership and reduce subscriber churn.

• Shorter series and reality competitions are driving significant engagement.

• Overall, Netflix viewers watched 90B hours of content from July to December 2023.

• Check out the full report here. 👈👀

🎬🌄 The Sundance Film Festival is considering relocating. 15 cities, including Park City, UT, Atlanta, and Santa Fe, are vying to host the prestigious event. The festival, currently under contract with Park City through 2026, is eyeing better deals that address growth and industry changes. Utah is making a strong bid to retain Sundance, highlighting a 40-year partnership and the state's economic and cultural benefits. A final decision on the new location is expected by the end of Sundance 2025, but for now, the competition is fierce.

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Development 🗒️

• Steven Spielberg sets an untitled event film for a 2026 release at Universal, with a screenplay by David Koepp. (more)

• Marvel resurrects Vision with Paul Bettany reprising his role in a new Disney+ series. (more)

• Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, and Busta Rhymes join the cast of Paramount's ‘Naked Gun’ reboot. (more)

• Amazon MGM acquires the action comedy ‘Brothers,’ starring Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage. (more)

• Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia will star in Prime Video's thriller series ‘Obsession,’ based on Catherine Ryan Howard's bestseller ‘56 Days.’ (more)

• Kyle MacLachlan, Fiona Shaw, and Edmund Donovan join the cast of Apple Original Films' thriller ‘Echo Valley,’ starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney. (more)

• Rupert Friend joins Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in Gareth Edwards' new ‘Jurassic World’ movie. (more)

• 50 Cent claims Netflix won a bidding war for his docuseries on rival Diddy, who faces new sexual assault allegations amid ongoing lawsuits. (more)

• Patrick Gibson, Christian Slater, and Molly Brown are set to star in ‘Dexter: Original Sin,’ a prequel series directed by original showrunner Clyde Phillips. (more)

• The ‘Nurse Jackie’ sequel series starring Edie Falco has moved from Showtime to Amazon Prime Video. (more)

• Lorenza Izzo will star opposite Diego Boneta in Prime Video's comic book series ‘El Gato.’ (more)

• Mike Weiss joins CBS's ‘FBI’ and Allen MacDonald takes over NBC's ‘Chicago Med’ as new showrunners. (more)

• Ayo Edebiri joins Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield in Amazon MGM's thriller ‘After The Hunt,’ directed by Luca Guadagnino. (more)

✅ Renewed & Canceled ❌

• ‘Wild Cards’ renewed for S2 at the CW & CBC. (more)

• ‘Highschool’ is cancelled after one season by Amazon Freevee. (more)

Business 🤝

• Paramount Global scales back its strategic partnership with Korea's CJ ENM, ending their content co-production and distribution agreement and pulling Paramount+ from the Tving platform in June. (more)

• Lionsgate narrows its losses to $39.5M in its first earnings report post-spinoff, driven by a 170% surge in TV production revenue. (more)

• Lionsgate Studios is considering producing lower-budget movies exclusively for Starz as the two entities proceed with their planned separation by the end of the year. (more)

• Paramount and Charter Communications extend their multi-year distribution agreement, including Paramount+ Essential and BET+. (more)

Other News 🚨

• The UK Media Bill, introducing new regulations for streaming services and enhancing public service broadcasters' prominence, is set to become law before the upcoming election. (more)

• Charles Barkley is considering rebooting ‘Inside the NBA’ through his production company if TNT Sports loses NBA rights. (more)

• A Native American costume designer is suing Apple Studios for excluding her from awards consideration for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ alleging retaliation for raising discrimination complaints. (more)

• Canadian screenwriters ratify a new three-year agreement with producers. (more)

What to watch this weekend? 👀

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: George Miller's latest ‘Mad Max’ film with Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy.

• The Garfield Movie: CGI adaptation of Jim Davis's classic comic strip.

• Sight: Drama featuring Terry Chen and Greg Kinnear from Angel Studios.

📺 STREAMING

• Atlas: (Netflix) Sci-fi thriller starring Jennifer Lopez and Simu Liu.

• Tires: (Netflix) Shane Gillis’ new comedy series.

• Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza: (Paramount+) Documentary on Chicago's iconic music festival.