🎬 Not Hiding From Flops

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👋 Good morning! New high score alert: Scarlett Johansson has officially become the highest-grossing lead actor in box office history. Thanks to 'Jurassic World: Rebirth's' massive $318M global opening over the weekend, ScarJo’s films have now earned a combined $14.8B at the global box office, putting her ahead of fellow MCU veterans Robert Downey Jr. ($14.2B) and Samuel L. Jackson ($14.6B).

Hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend! We're back to catch you up on everything you missed while you were (hopefully) relaxing and not checking industry news every five minutes. On the box office front… 👇

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Jurassic World’s’ got some global bite…

1. 🦕 Jurassic World Rebirth: 🆕 $91.5M domestic opening ($147.3M 5-day), $318.3M global debut. Universal's $180M dino reboot delivers the biggest worldwide launch of 2025 so far. Its 5-day total essentially matches previous ‘Jurassic World’ sequels' 3-day debuts ($145-148M range) despite missing IMAX screens (‘F1’ hogged them). Audiences gave it a lukewarm "B" CinemaScore.

2. 🏎️ F1: (Wk 2) $26.1M domestic weekend (-54%), $109.5M domestic total, $293.6M global. Racing drama maintains decent momentum, though the $250M budget means it has a ways to go to reach profitability.

3. 🐉 How to Train Your Dragon: (Wk 4) $11M domestic weekend (-44%), $224M domestic total, $516M global.

4. 🤖 Elio: (Wk 3) $5.7M domestic weekend (-45%), $55.1M domestic total, $96M global.

5. 🧟‍♂️ 28 Years Later: (Wk 3) $4.6M domestic weekend (-53%), $60.2M domestic total, $126M global.

6. 🌺 Lilo & Stitch: (Wk 7) $3.8M domestic weekend (-45%), $408.5M domestic total, $972.7M global. The live-action remake has officially overtaken ‘A Minecraft Movie’ to become 2025's highest-grossing Hollywood release.

7. 🤖 M3GAN 2.0: (Wk 2) $3.8M domestic weekend (-63%), $18.6M domestic total, $31M global. Steep drop for Universal and Blumhouse’s killer doll sequel.

8. 🕴️ Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning: (Wk 7) $2.7M domestic weekend (-34%), $191.2M domestic total, $576M global.

9. 👩‍❤️‍👨 Materialists: (Wk 4) $1.3M domestic weekend (-55%), $33.5M domestic total, $46M global.

10. 🎸 This is Spinal Tap: $1.1M domestic weekend. The cult classic's 40th anniversary re-release taps into nostalgia for modest returns.

The big picture: July 4th weekend pulled in a decent $155M domestically—up 17.7% from last week but basically flat with 2024's same frame. The marketplace feels surprisingly thin compared to last year's stronger holdovers like ‘Inside Out 2’ ($30M in week 4) versus this year's ‘Elio’ ($5.7M in week 3). Looking ahead, July’s almost entirely dependent on "second or third time is the charm" franchise revivals, with Hollywood betting big on nostalgia to carry the summer.

CLOSEUP
🎙️ Jason Blum isn’t hiding from his flops…

Blumhouse is enduring a rough 2025 with four consecutive underperformers—’Wolf Man’ ($20.7M total domestic), ‘The Woman in The Yard’ ($22.4M), ‘Drop’ ($16.6M), and now ‘M3GAN 2.0’ ($10.2M opening, and a steep 63% drop in its second frame). But instead of going radio silent like most executives would, CEO Jason Blum did something unprecedented: he called The Town podcast himself to dissect exactly what went wrong.

The ‘M3GAN’ Misfire: The sequel's failure is particularly stinging because it looked like a sure thing. Just 10 weeks before release, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ was tracking for a $45M opening—so bullish that industry chatter seriously considered whether it could outgross ‘F1's’ $57M debut. But in a sign of how unpredictable tracking has become, projections collapsed week by week: $45M became $30M, then $20M, then a devastating $10.2M reality check.

Blum's post-mortem points to three critical mistakes:

• Genre-swapping: They swapped horror/thriller for action/comedy, which confused audiences who expected scares, not laughs.

• Summer positioning: The original ‘M3GAN’ thrived in January's notorious "dead zone" when audiences craved any decent entertainment. Moving to summer meant competing with tentpoles instead of dominating an empty calendar.

• Rushed production: Director Gerard Johnstone "needs time"—on the original film, they didn't even set a release date until the movie was finished. This time they locked in a summer release before solving creative challenges.

According to Blum, the horror market has fundamentally changed. He admits the industry was used to a market that could absorb 12-15 horror movies annually with consistent modest successes, but those days are over. What was once a genre that stayed profitable in theaters while everything else fled to streaming now faces oversaturation. Big breakouts on small budgets have become nearly impossible: only ‘Longlegs’ cracked $100M domestically last year for low-budget horror.

Looking ahead… For Blum, the solution is scaling up. Sources suggest Blumhouse is reconsidering their ambitious goal of releasing up to 10 theatrical titles annually, instead focusing on fewer, higher-budget projects that can actually compete as theatrical events. It's a "different filter than we used a year ago," according to Blum.

WIDESHOT
🎬 AMC, ‘The Last of Us,’ and Comic-Con…

🍿Movie theaters are cramming 30 minutes of ads before films, and Hollywood studios aren’t happy. AMC has joined rivals Regal and Cinemark in running marathon pre-shows packed with non-movie commercials. AMC's own app now warns ticket buyers "The movie will start 25-30 minutes after the listed showtime," basically giving customers a green light to skip the whole pre-show. And skip they do. Studies show 36% of audiences now intentionally arrive late to dodge the ads, with only 20% in their seats when trailers start. That's a problem because moviegoers are also missing the movie trailers that studios drop hundreds of thousands to place. Some studio execs are calling it "incredibly self-defeating," as trailers are their best weapon for getting butts in seats for future movies. But AMC's got bills to pay: the chain is sitting on $4B in debt and needs every revenue stream it can get.

🎮 ‘The Last of Us’ video game creators just quit their own TV show. Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross, the co-writers behind the blockbuster video game ‘The Last of Us: Part II,’ have abruptly exited HBO's TV adaptation of their own creation, leaving showrunner Craig Mazin flying solo for S3. The departure comes after S2 deviated significantly from the source material and saw declining viewership. Druckmann wasn't just a writer-for-hire—he created the original ‘The Last of Us’ universe and his involvement was crucial for maintaining credibility with the game’s devoted fan base. As Hollywood turns to video games as the latest IP goldmine, many are wondering if this departure signals whether studios will continue collaborating with game creators or start shutting them out once they've got what they need. Both described the split as amicable, with Druckmann heading back to focus on his next video game and Gross pursuing other projects.

🦸‍♂️ Comic-Con's biggest stars are no-shows this year. Major studios including Marvel, Warner Bros., Sony, and Lucasfilm are ditching San Diego Comic-Con's Hall H presentations, leaving the 6,500-seat venue notably light on superhero blockbusters. The exodus comes after superhero films have been posting disappointing numbers, with ‘Thunderbolts*’ being the latest letdown despite being Marvel's attempt to reinvigorate the fatiguing genre. Studios are citing timing issues (both ‘Superman’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ release too close to Comic-Con dates) and rising costs with Hall H presentations now running into hundreds of thousands when you factor in A-list talent fees. Comic-Con used to be a must for studios, but between superhero burnout and belt-tightening, it's becoming a nice-to-have instead of a need-to-have.

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LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Bella Ramsey will star in and co-lead Channel 4 thriller ‘Maya,’ with Daisy Haggard making her directorial debut. (more)

• Matt Gomez Hidaka joins Josh Trank’s horror-thriller ‘Send A Scare,’ following his breakout in ‘Eddington.’ (more)

• Paolo Sorrentino will open the Venice Film Festival with ‘La Grazia.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• Keanu Reeves will host and exec produce a docuseries on the rise of the Cadillac Formula 1 team, following the success of ‘F1: The Movie.’ (more)

• Netflix dives into shark season with ‘Shark Whisperer’ and ‘All the Sharks,’ challenging Discovery and Nat Geo’s summer dominance. (more)

• ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is getting a spinoff series told from Chief Bromden’s point of view. (more)

• David Schulner joins Fox’s ‘Memory of a Killer’ as co-showrunner on the Patrick Dempsey-led thriller. (more)

• ‘South Park’ S27 premiere is delayed as streaming deal tensions spark backlash from creators. (more)

• ‘Highlander’ adds ‘Industry’ star Marisa Abela to the cast alongside Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in Amazon MGM’s remake. (more)

• Netflix cancels ‘Pulse’ and ‘The Residence’ both after one season. (more)

Business 🤝

• TikTok plans to launch a new U.S. app on Sept. 5 ahead of a potential sale and March shutdown of the current version. (more)

• AT&T has sold its remaining 70% stake in ‘DirecTV’ to TPG, fully exiting the entertainment business. (more)

• Prime Video will now stream France.tv channels and 20,000+ titles in France, including ‘France 2,’ ‘France 3,’ and ‘France Info.’ (more)

• Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media filed for bankruptcy, laid off most staff, and blamed a failed deal with ‘Trinity Broadcasting Network.’ (more)

Other News 🚨

• California Legislature has passed AB 1138 to expand film and TV tax credits, now awaiting Gov. Newsom’s signature. (more)

• U.K. Government has rejected a streaming levy on platforms like ‘Netflix’ and ‘Disney+,’ citing support for a “mixed ecology.” (more)

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