🎬 One for the Road

🎃 Happy Halloween. Here's tonight's drinking game: Take a sip every time you see a homemade ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ costume. Actually don't—you'll be hammered by 7 PM. It's this year's hottest costume trend. Netflix partnered with Spirit Halloween for official costumes, but they sold out so instantly that even store employees couldn't get them. Now they're sharing purple hair tutorials and glitter tips on TikTok like survival guides. Every homemade Huntrix costume represents a parent who deserves candy too.

Welcome back to The Dailies. Before you tackle tonight's candy duty and costume chaos, we've got the industry news to start your Halloween right. Let’s get into it. 👇

TOP STREAMED
📊 What U.S. audiences were watching this week…

How last week’s releases are stacking up…

• 💣 A House of Dynamite: (Netflix) The film pulled in 6.2M views in its opening weekend in the US (taking the top film spot across platforms), per Luminate, and 22.1M globally, per Netflix. It’s on track to break into Netflix’s Top 10 films of the year, though still shy of this year’s mega-hit ‘Back In Action’ (10.9M US views in its first 3 days).

• ✡️ Nobody Wants This: (Netflix) S2 pulled 4.8M US views and 21M hours streamed in its first week, enough to take the #1 TV spot across platforms. That's down from S1's 6.6M views and 29.4M hours in the same timeframe though. For perspective, Netflix's real winners this year ('The Waterfront,' 'Sirens,' 'Untamed') all cleared the 40M-hour mark easily in their first week.

• 🏠 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: (Hulu) 1.7M US views in week one marks a strong debut by Hulu's standards. The streamer's top film this year, 'Predator: Killer of Killers,' opened at 2.2M views in week 1, so this one’s right on its heels.

Sources: Top-streamed chart (U.S.) via FlixPatrol; new release viewership data (U.S.) via Luminate.

CLOSEUP
📺 Tubi’s looking to YouTubers for its film slate…

Tubi and Kevin Hart's Hartbeat just greenlit four films from creators who built their audiences on YouTube. But these aren't just acting gigs or celebrity cameos. Creators are writing, directing, and starring in theatrical-quality productions for Fox's free ad-supported streamer. Some details:

• Kinigra Deon will write, direct, and star in supernatural thriller 'Sundown'

• '85 South Show' podcast hosts DC Young Fly, Chico Bean, and Karlous Miller are making horror-comedy '85 South: Dead End'

• Two additional films haven't been announced yet

• Hartbeat and Tubi already have a relationship; this expands it from licensing existing content to producing originals

• Tubi's creator library is nearing 10,000 titles for its 100M monthly viewers

Kevin Hart's acting as the connector between creators and Hollywood, providing resources and backing while letting them keep the voice that made them successful in the first place. It's different from past attempts (like Maker Studios and Fullscreen a decade ago) where YouTube stars got forced into traditional formats that didn't fit.

With this deal, Tubi and Hartbeat are doubling down on the creator economy. Tubi's already been licensing thousands of videos through their Tubi for Creators program from earlier this year. Now both Tubi and Hartbeat are funding actual movie productions, wagering that creators' built-in audiences might matter more than traditional star power in today's streaming landscape.

Looking ahead… All four films drop in 2026 as Tubi's first exclusive creator-led slate.

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WIDESHOT
🎬 Sheridan’s ‘Call of Duty,’ Fubo, and George Martin…

🤠 Taylor Sheridan's giving Paramount one last blockbuster for the road: Days after news of his NBCUniversal jump lit up the trades, the 'Yellowstone' creator signed on to write Paramount's 'Call of Duty' movie with long-time friend and previous collaborator Peter Berg, who will direct and co-write. Paramount announced the gaming franchise adaptation back in September. The series (500M+ copies sold, America's top-selling game for 16 straight years) even had Steven Spielberg pitching Activision, but they passed. While Sheridan will continue making TV shows for Paramount through 2028, his film deal expires next year. After being pretty quiet on movies since 2021, this feels like quite the parting gift.

📺 Disney just bought the company that sued them for being a monopoly. The entertainment giant closed its acquisition of a 70% stake in Fubo, creating the sixth-largest pay-TV provider with nearly 6M combined subscribers when including Hulu + Live TV. The whole thing started when Fubo sued Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros last year, claiming their planned Venu Sports streaming service would squeeze them out of the market. Venu never even launched after a judge blocked it for anticompetitive behavior, and the settlement ended up being Disney buying Fubo instead. Both services will stay separate brands, but Fubo's team will run everything, putting Disney right behind YouTube TV's 10M subscribers.

📚 Winter is coming for OpenAI's legal team. Most AI copyright cases center on "fair use," whether tech companies can legally copy books to train models if they're creating something transformative. But ‘Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin just unlocked two new arguments: A federal judge is letting him argue that simply downloading pirated books is infringement, whether OpenAI trained on them or not. The court also said ChatGPT's plot summaries and sequel ideas may infringe Martin's work. That's three separate paths to victory, each potentially worth up to $150K per copyrighted work. The same lawyer who secured Anthropic's $1.5B settlement despite mostly losing on fair use is leading Martin's case.

STATISTIC
📉 It was a rough October for theaters…

Hollywood just posted its worst October in 27 years (pandemic aside), with revenue expected to hit just $425M. Disney's ‘Tron: Ares’ topped the month with only $63.4M, making it the weakest #1 October film since 2005.

The weak showing stems from a severe lack of releases in an already low-volume 2025, still hampered by 2023’s strike delays. Not only were August/September films that typically pad October revenue missing, but Warner Bros. also pushed 'Mortal Kombat II' to 2026, leaving another gap. The films that did release failed to connect—'Tron: Ares' underwhelmed despite years of anticipation, and 'The Smashing Machine' bombed at $11.4M despite Dwayne Johnson's star power.

Looking ahead… Hollywood's banking on November's 'Predator: Badlands' and Thanksgiving releases 'Wicked: For Good' and 'Zootopia 2' to salvage the year.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Netflix landed the Adam Driver–led hostage thriller series ‘Rabbit, Rabbit,’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ writer Peter Craig. (more)

• Alicia Vikander, Jamie Dornan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bill Nighy, and Gillian Anderson will lead the voice cast of the ‘The Turning Door.’ (more)

• RLJE Films has acquired U.S. rights to Alan Ritchson’s dialogue-free revenge thriller ‘Motor City,’ with a theatrical release planned for 2026. (more)

• Charlize Theron is in final talks to star in and produce Amazon MGM Studios’ thriller ‘Tyrant,’ directed and written by David Weil. (more)

• Rob Lowe and Keith David will star in the dark comedy ‘My New Friend Jim.’ (more)

• Legendary has hired ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ writer Zeb Wells to script its upcoming ‘Buck Rogers’ feature adaptation. (more)

• Mia Goth, Zach Galifianakis, and Dan Stevens will star in Jonathan Krisel’s dark comedy ‘Hey Bear.’ (more)

• Anthony Mackie, Pablo Schreiber, and Ben Foster will star in the mob revenge thriller ‘Raven,’ which will be introduced to buyers at AFM. (more)

• Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are reuniting for the action-thriller ‘Viva La Madness,’ based on J.J. Connolly’s novel and launching at AFM. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Hulu has ordered a pilot for ‘Southern Bastards,’ a crime drama based on the graphic novel series, from Bill Dubuque and Nia DaCosta. (more)

• Mubi has acquired Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s romantic drama series ‘The New Years’ for multiple territories. (more)

• Chloe East has been cast as the female lead in Hulu’s YA drama pilot ‘Foster Dade,’ from Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran. (more)

Business 🤝

• Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film has renewed its overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. (more)

• Paramount Television Studios head Matt Thunell has unveiled a new leadership team as the company undergoes major layoffs. (more)

• Greg Pedicin has joined Untitled as a literary manager after more than two decades at Gersh, bringing several longtime clients with him. (more)

• YouTube TV is dropping Disney channels, including ABC and ESPN, after failing to reach a new carriage agreement. (more)

RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Bugonia: Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons.

• Anniversary: Thriller starring Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler.

📺 STREAMING

• Ballad of a Small Player: (Netflix) Edward Berger’s latest starring Colin Farrell.

• The Witcher (Netflix): S4 of the fantasy drama with Liam Hemsworth taking over from Henry Cavill.

• I Love LA: (HBO) Comedy series created by and starring Rachel Sennott.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments