🎬 Netflix Gets into Podcasts?

👋 Good morning! Oscar voting wrapped yesterday, and Variety's anonymous Academy voter confessions are all over the place. One voter loathes Best Actress frontrunner ‘The Substance’ but is voting for Demi Moore anyway, while others are jumping on the Mikey Madison bandwagon after her BAFTA win. With members split on everything from ‘Dune's’ Best Picture chances to whether Supporting Actor is locked or wide open, Mar. 2nd is shaping up to be Hollywood's most unpredictable night since the envelope mix-up.

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:

• China’s Box Office Revival

• Netflix’s Podcast Play

• Nielsen’s New Numbers

• HBO’s YouTube Backtrack

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

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

CLOSEUP
🎬 A $1.6B cartoon just changed everything…

Move over, Hollywood—there's a new box office king, and it's a Chinese cartoon about a teenage god. ‘Ne Zha 2’ just pulled off something not even ‘Avatar’ or ‘Star Wars’ could manage—hitting $1.636B in a single market. For context, no movie has ever crossed the $1B mark in North America, not even during the peak MCU era.

What makes this milestone wild? Just months ago, China's box office was in trouble. Young viewers were ditching theaters for social apps, pushing the average moviegoer age from 22 to 26. Hollywood felt it hardest—their Chinese earnings plunged from $2.5B in 2019 to $797M in 2023.

But ‘Ne Zha 2's’ success tells a different story: China's evolved from Hollywood's favorite export market into an entertainment powerhouse that can generate its own mega-hits. Western star power? Not needed when local blockbusters are breaking global records.

But ‘Ne Zha 2’ isn't just crushing it by accident. It's part of a $2B+ Lunar New Year box office explosion that included other local hits like ‘Detective Chinatown 1900’ ($440M). The secret sauce? Infrastructure. China has built nearly 800 IMAX theaters—almost half of IMAX's global footprint—creating a premium moviegoing experience that pulled in $121M during the holiday, double last year's record.

Looking ahead… ‘Ne Zha 2’ is about to become the first non-English film to crack the all-time top 10 worldwide box office list, and the highest-grossing animated film globally. It's a watershed moment showing how China's theatrical market has evolved from importing Hollywood hits to creating its own billion-dollar blockbusters. The question now: Is this a one-off success story, or has China cracked the code for bringing young viewers back to theaters?

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
“It's like having an army of mini-me’s”

That's how one executive describes using AI to do the work of three people.

Sounds impossible? Over 10,000 professionals are already using AI Assistant Kit to win back 10+ hours every week. No coding needed, no complex setup.

Inside the kit:

• Battle-tested templates used by top performers

• Ready-to-use AI Command Center for managing all tools in one place

• Built-in ROI calculator to track your time savings

• Monthly template updates as AI evolves

Stop drowning in tasks. Let AI handle the routine work while you focus on what matters.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Podcasts, Nielsen numbers, and John Oliver…

🎙️ Netflix is quietly shopping for its next big stars—and they’re not looking at Hollywood. The streaming giant is reportedly discussing deals with top podcasting talent, including reported talks with 'Call Her Daddy' megastar Alex Cooper. The timing's interesting: YouTube recently revealed Americans now prefer watching its content on TVs over mobile devices, with podcast viewing on living room screens surging. With 136M U.S. adults tuning into podcasts monthly and 84% of Gen Z consuming video versions, the medium's too massive to ignore. For Netflix, video podcasts could be a smart retention play: podcasts pump out regular content like clockwork, keep subscribers hooked without breaking the bank, and each hit show could spawn their next big IP. Sure beats throwing millions at another scripted series. While they could simply license existing shows ad-free, insiders say Netflix is hungry for exclusive content from marquee names. As YouTube cements its position as America's go-to streaming destination, Netflix's podcast play could help defend its turf.

📺📊 Streaming isn't just winning—it's running laps around cable TV. Nielsen's latest numbers read like a cable executive's nightmare: in just 12 months, streaming platforms have grabbed an extra 6.6% of America's total TV viewing time, now commanding 42.6% of all viewing. Netflix is particularly crushing it, hitting an all-time high of 8.6% market share, with ‘Squid Game’ alone racking up 9B viewing minutes. Even Amazon's joining the party—their NFL Wild Card game helped streaming hit 47B minutes in a single day. Traditional TV's still hanging on with live sports and news, but the writing's on the wall: as Disney bundles its streaming services and Paramount+ hits record numbers, we're watching old-school TV take its last lap.

🎬 HBO just learned a valuable lesson about messing with John Oliver fans—don't. After making fans wait four days (instead of the usual next-day release) for ‘Last Week Tonight’ clips on YouTube last season—hoping to nudge them toward $9.99 Max subscriptions—HBO's hitting the rewind button. After a year of frustrating pretty much everyone (including Oliver himself, who called it "massively frustrating"), HBO's finally waving the white flag. The network has dropped the strategy entirely for the new season after data showed it wasn't actually boosting Max viewership. Those clips? They're back to dropping right after the show airs, just like the good old days. The backtrack offers a peek into streaming's evolving playbook: platforms are discovering that artificial scarcity might not be the subscription driver they thought. In today's fragmented landscape, being part of the immediate YouTube conversation might be more valuable than keeping content locked behind a paywall.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Sony Pictures Classics has acquired ‘Vie Privée,’ a French-language murder mystery starring Jodie Foster. (more)

• Rashida Jones is set to direct ‘Playdate,’ a psychological drama based on Marie Østerbye’s acclaimed Black List script. (more)

• Universal has pushed Steven Spielberg’s untitled event film to June 2026. (more)

• Chris Pine will star in ‘Nowhere Fast,’ a Texas crime thriller written and directed by ‘Fargo’ creator Noah Hawley. (more)

• Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer are eyeing a reunion for a UFO disclosure-themed thriller. (more)

• Justin Chon is in talks to direct sci-fi thriller ‘Capsule.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• ‘Poker Face’ S2 has added Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, Justin Theroux, John Cho, Haley Joel Osment, and Patti Harrison as guest stars. (more)

• Mindy Kaling’s new comedy ‘Not Suitable for Work’ has been greenlit at Hulu. (more)

• CBS is expanding the ‘Blue Bloods’ universe with ‘Boston Blue,’ a new series starring Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan. (more)

• Alan Ritchson confirms ‘Blue Mountain State’ is gearing up for a long-awaited fourth season at Amazon. (more)

• Max has canceled ‘Bookie’ after S2. (more)

• Lesli Linka Glatter has joined Apple TV+’s ‘Imperfect Women’ as director and executive producer, with the limited series set to film in Los Angeles. (more)

Business 🤝

• Veteran exec Milan Popelka has joined Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap as a partner. (more)

• Sony Pictures has named Pixar veteran Michael Agulnek as EVP of Global Publicity and promoted Rose Phillips to EVP of Global Digital Marketing & Social Media. (more)

Other News 🚨

• ‘SNL 50’ drew 14.8M viewers, becoming NBC’s most-watched primetime entertainment telecast in five years. (more)

• Sick of the news? Join the other 4M Americans and sign up for 1440 for free today. The best newsletter for unbiased reporting. (more)*

  _*sponsored

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
Screenwriters: Skip Hollywood. Get $15M direct from audiences...

Your screenplay is collecting digital dust. Meanwhile, audiences are desperate for fresh stories.

Here's the thing: Kinolime Studios is bypassing Hollywood's "development hell." No more pitching to distracted executives or waiting years for a maybe.

Instead, they put your story directly in front of real viewers. If they love it (and they're pretty good at spotting the good stuff), they'll back their choice with up to $15M in production funding.

This isn't a contest. It's not a fellowship. It's a direct path to getting your film made--chosen by the people who'll actually watch it. 

The best part? Submitting is completely free. The final deadline is February 28th. Read to let audiences discover your story?

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments