🎬 Recovered by 2030

👋 Good morning! When Sam Levinson was writing ‘Euphoria’ S3, he had Hans Zimmer's ‘Interstellar’ and ‘True Romance’ scores playing on repeat. Naturally, when it came time to craft the season’s sound, he decided to bring the maestro himself into the fold. HBO has announced that Zimmer will join Labrinth to score the upcoming third season, bringing his orchestral magic to the neon-soaked world of teenage angst.

Welcome to The Dailies. Every M/W/F we beam the industry's most crucial updates straight to your inbox. Stumbled in accidentally? Make it official and sign up here. 👈

TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…

How last week’s new releases are stacking up…

• 🌲 Untamed: (Netflix) A monster debut for Netflix, racking up 57.8M hours viewed in its first week with 12.2M season views according to Luminate. That easily outpaces Netflix’s previous leaders from this year like ‘Sirens’ (43.6M hours), ‘The Waterfront’ (43.2M hours), and ‘Ransom Canyon’ (40.4M hours), making it the #1 original show on streaming right now by a wide margin.

• 👧 The Summer I Turned Pretty S3: (Prime Video) Landed with 4.5M season views and 9M hours watched in week one—a slight dip from S2's 9.2M hours in the same timeframe.

• 🔥 Meanwhile, K‑Pop Demon Hunters continues dominating, making Netflix history as the first film to hit peak viewership in Week 5, surging from a modest debut to 106M views globally and counting according to Netflix’s recent data dump. Its soundtrack is also dominating globally, breaking records on Billboard and Spotify—outperforming even BTS and Blackpink.

Top-streamed chart July 18 to July 24. Data provided by Luminate.

CLOSEUP
🇺🇸 America’s got a new AI action plan…

The Trump administration just rolled out America's AI Action Plan—a hefty 28-page blueprint with 90+ policy actions designed to cement U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence. While the plan wasn't aimed at Hollywood, the entertainment industry is paying close attention to one key issue: copyright.

President Trump made his stance crystal clear: requiring AI companies to pay for copyrighted content used in training is simply "not doable." His reasoning:

The plan document itself doesn’t address copyright protections, but President Trump’s public stance effectively backs the tech industry's "fair use" argument despite ongoing lawsuits from studios like Disney and NBCUniversal against AI firms.

Hollywood's major unions are pushing back hard. The Human Artistry Campaign—representing SAG-AFTRA, DGA, WGA, and IATSE—says "taking creators' works without consent or payment degrades the incentive to create." The coalition wants a licensing system like ASCAP or BMI, where AI companies would pay royalties to creators.

The bigger picture: The plan aims to accelerate AI innovation and beat China in the tech race. Supporters argue this could spark breakthrough advances in medicine, manufacturing, and scientific research. But while tech advocates see this as essential progress, Hollywood faces questions about job security and industry disruption, especially as the administration shows its priorities favor AI development over creator rights.

Looking ahead… The plan's 90+ actions are designed to be implemented over the next year. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may ultimately decide whether AI training constitutes "fair use" as ongoing lawsuits work their way through the courts.

CLOSEUP
🎬 Netflix, Paramount, and box office recovery…

🤩 Netflix is building its own reality TV universe. Last week the streamer threw a star-studded party on Santa Monica Pier, parading over 100 reality personalities from shows like 'Selling Sunset' and 'Love Is Blind' to celebrate its expanding "reality universe" strategy. Instead of creating one-off shows with fresh faces, Netflix is systematically recasting these popular reality stars across multiple series—like moving 'Too Hot to Handle's' Chloe Veitch to ‘The Circle,’ then ‘Perfect Match,’ and finally to hosting ‘Sneaky Links’ to build sustained fan engagement. Disney is pursuing similar tactics on Hulu, but the approach reveals streaming-era reality TV's new imperative: it's no longer enough to simply produce hit shows—streamers must create entire universes that turn casual viewers into devoted fans who stick around for more.

🤝 Paramount officially has new owners. After 251 days of regulatory review, the FCC finally gave the green light to Skydance Media's $8B acquisition of Paramount Global, ending the Redstone family's 30-year control of the media giant behind CBS, MTV, and the Paramount film studio. David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, will now helm the combined company alongside former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. What’s next? The new leadership plans to rebuild Paramount+ with AI-powered features, slash $2B in costs, and potentially consolidate TV networks while exploring asset sales. The merger marks another major Hollywood consolidation as traditional media companies struggle with cord-cutting and streaming losses.

📊 Post-COVID box office recovery is just about halfway there. According to PwC’s latest report, U.S. box office won't return to pre-COVID levels until 2030. The firm projects 2029 revenues at $9.8B (still short of 2019's $10.7B), with admissions dropping from 1.3B tickets in the good old days to just 823M projected for 2029. Basically, we’re looking at a full decade to get back to where we were. IMAX is having a moment, though: While overall admissions struggle, IMAX is posting record numbers with $91.7M in Q2 revenue (up 3%) and projecting $1.2B globally for 2025. The premium format now grabs 15% market share on opening weekends, and 950 North American theaters have installed large-format screens—that's 37% more than five years ago.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
Your morning routine is missing something…

You're already reading one smart newsletter… might as well make it two. Morning Brew is basically The Dailies for everything else—business, tech, finance, world news—all the stuff that impacts your career and life, served up with the same "actually readable" energy you're used to.

✅ 5-minute read (perfect coffee companion)
✅ Witty writing (no corporate robot speak)
✅ 4M+ daily readers (you'll be in good company)
✅ 100% free (because who has budget for more subscriptions?)

👉 Join Morning Brew Free (takes 15 seconds, we timed it)

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• JT Mollner will write and direct Lionsgate’s ‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,’ his second Stephen King adaptation. (more)

• Cooper Hoffman and Jason Schwartzman join Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial,’ with Ike Barinholtz in talks to play Elon Musk. (more)

• Luke Wilson, Tim Baltz, Arturo Castro, and Genesis Rodriguez have joined Tom Segura’s R-rated comedy ‘El Tigre,’now filming in New Mexico. (more)

• Apple is developing a Claus von Bülow limited series from Jack Thorne, with Story Syndicate and Tomorrow Studios producing. (more)

• Chad Stahelski is set to produce a film adaptation of ‘Calexit,’ the near-future rebellion comic from Black Mask Studios. (more)

• Chris Sanders will return to write ‘Lilo & Stitch 2,’ the sequel to Disney’s billion-dollar live-action hit he co-created. (more)

• Noah Jupe and Isabela Merced will star in ‘Psyche,’ a Greek-island thriller about a backpacker caught in illegal archeological digs. (more)

• Sony and 3000 Pictures have picked up Jeff Bushell’s spec comedy ‘Open House,’ about a high schooler trading party spots for popularity. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Evan Waite and Alec Sulkin are developing workplace comedy ‘Please See HR’ for Hulu and 20th Television. (more)

• CBS has ordered a pilot for ‘Eternally Yours,’ a vampire family comedy from ‘Ghosts’ EPs Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. (more)

• Apple is partnering with Ben Stiller on ‘Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost,’ a personal documentary about his legendary comedy parents. (more)

• ‘Wednesday’ is renewed for S3 at Netflix. (more)

• ‘Stick’ is renewed for S2 at Apple TV+. (more)

Business 🤝

• Versant has announced its full board ahead of its Comcast spin-off, with David Novak as chair and Mark Lazarus as CEO. (more)

• YouTube ad revenue hit $9.8B in Q2, helping boost Alphabet profits 19% year-over-year to $28.2B. (more)

• 4M Americans already know. Now it’s your turn—meet 1440, your smarter news source. (more)*

_*sponsored

RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?

🎥 THEATRICAL

• The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Marvel's retro-futuristic superhero reboot starring Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby.

📺 STREAMING

• Happy Gilmore 2: (Netflix) Adam Sandler returns for the long-awaited sequel, featuring Bad Bunny and Christopher McDonald.

• Hitmakers: (Netflix) Reality series where top songwriters create hits for John Legend, Shaboozey, and Blackpink's Lisa in luxury writing camps.

• Washington Black: (Hulu) Drama miniseries based on Esi Edugyan's novel, starring Sterling K. Brown and Ernest Kingsley Jr.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW

‘Fantastic Four’ is looking at a massive $115-135M opening that could give the MCU the win it desperately needs this year. With ‘Superman’ already proving there’s still healthy demand for quality superhero content, a strong showing from Marvel's first family might signal that the genre's rough patch could officially be in the rearview mirror.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments