👋 Happy Friday. Have you heard of 'Desert Warrior'? Trick question, nobody has (including, apparently, the marketing department). The $150M Saudi-backed Anthony Mackie epic opened last weekend to $488K across 1,010 screens. Six years of production. A director who quit mid-edit. 12,500 extras. And a domestic gross that wouldn't cover the catering budget. It's now tracking to be one of the biggest flops in box office history, which, at a $150M budget, is at least a record.
Welcome back to The Dailies. Grab your coffee, and we’ll get you caught up before the weekend pulls you away. 👇
TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…
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 | Apex NetflixFILM The top film across platforms this week. The action tentpole opened huge with 12M US views in its first weekend per Luminate, alongside 38.2M views globally per Netflix. For context, that's not far off from 'The Rip,' which did 13M domestic and 41.6M global in the same frame. Clear hit. |
 | Running Point NetflixSERIES S2 is off to a soft start, pulling 1.8M domestic views and 8.5M hours watched in its opening weekend according to Luminate. That's a steep drop from S1's 4.6M views and 22.9M hours in the same window. Still the top show across all platforms this week per Luminate, but an early sign that the audience didn't come back at the level Netflix was probably hoping for. |
 | Unchosen NetflixSERIES Brought in 2.1M average season views domestically in its first 5 days per Luminate. In that same window, it pulled 46.9M global hours watched per Netflix, with the audience skewing older female. Solid overperformance relative to expectations. |
Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Apr. 22 to Apr. 29. Data provided by Luminate.
CLOSEUP
📡 The FCC is eyeing Disney’s broadcast licenses…
Brendan Carr, FCC Chairman, and Josh D’Amaro, Disney CEO
The agency ordered Disney to file early license renewals for all eight of its ABC-owned TV stations, giving the company 30 days to comply. Those licenses weren't due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest (some not until 2031).
The backstory: Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel ran a mock White House Correspondents' Dinner roast on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' last week, joking that Melania Trump had the "glow of an expectant widow." Two days later, a gunman rushed the real WHCD and was charged with attempting to assassinate the president. Both Trumps called for Kimmel's firing. Kimmel didn't apologize, calling it a joke about their age gap. The FCC order landed the next day.
The agency says it's actually about a year-old investigation into Disney's DEI practices, not about Kimmel. But not everyone's buying the distinction, particularly given the timing.
It's not the first clash (FCC Chairman Brendan Carr directly threatened ABC over different Kimmel comments last September), but the pushback is notably bipartisan. Sen. Ted Cruz, the NAB, and the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner have all criticized the move as government overreach.
Looking ahead… Legal experts say actually revoking a license is nearly impossible, for whatever it’s worth. Disney says it's confident in its record and plans to comply with the order.
INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
Check into Hokum. Now playing in theaters.
From the director of Oddity and producer of Weapons, Hokum stars Adam Scott in a film critics are calling "a straight-up horror thrill ride." Now playing in theaters.
WIDESHOT
🎬 Letterboxd, soundstages, and Netflix…
🍿 Letterboxd is looking for a new owner. Tiny, the Canadian holding company that bought a 60% stake in the film-logging platform in 2023 at a $50M valuation, is shopping for buyers. Since the pandemic, Letterboxd has gone from ~1M users to 26M+, most under 35, making it the most engaged community of young film fans online. It's become a genuine tastemaker too, shaping conversation around new releases and giving smaller films visibility money can't always buy. Fans are understandably nervous about corporate meddling: a new owner would almost certainly look to unlock events and awards-season advertising, but the bare-bones monetization is part of what its community loves about it. Co-founder Matthew Buchanan holds veto rights over any buyer, so a checkbook alone won't cut it.
🏚️ Another major sound stage defaulted on its debt. Deutsche Bank filed a foreclosure complaint against Kaufman Astoria Studios, the historic Queens facility that opened in 1920 as Paramount's first home, alleging owner Hackman Capital Partners defaulted on a $340M loan due last November. It's Hackman's second default in months, after Goldman Sachs seized its Radford Studio Center in LA (Netflix is in talks to buy it). Both were acquired during Hackman's 2020-2022 buying spree, when content demand made studio real estate feel like can’t-miss investments. They could, in fact, miss. And Hackman isn't the only one caught in the ongoing reset: sound stage operator Quixote Studios, one of LA's biggest stage providers, also just exited nearly all its leased facilities in the city.
📱 Netflix's mobile app now looks a lot like TikTok. The streamer launched a redesigned mobile app yesterday with "Clips," a vertical video feed of short, personalized highlights meant to help users decide what to watch next. Full-length content still plays horizontally, so this is a discovery tool, not a format shift. But it mirrors one of the fastest-growing trends in the creator economy: the "clipper," someone who chops long-form content into short, viral vertical segments, has become one of its most in-demand roles. Netflix is essentially formalizing that practice in-house, and every major streamer (Disney+, Peacock, Paramount) is now doing some version of the same. Some see these feeds as a gateway to microdramas, though Netflix hasn't signaled any plans there.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Florence Hunt, Isla Fisher and Colin Firth are all boarding 'Bare,' Lorna Tucker's memoir-based feature debut now filming in London. (more)
Michael B. Jordan's ‘Battlefield’ movie package has kicked off a five-studio bidding war. (more)
Leo Woodall and Clémence Poésy are teaming up for 'A Waiter in Paris,' which will launch sales at Cannes. (more)
The original 'Blair Witch Project' cast and filmmakers are coming aboard the Lionsgate reboot as EPs, joining a new creative team. (more)
Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos and Ken Jeong wrapped filming on dark comedy 'Kaet Might Die,' and it's now headed to Cannes for sales. (more)
Roadside Attractions and Saban Films picked up U.S. rights to spider-horror pic 'Crawlers.' Theatrical release is set for Oct. 2. (more)
Temple Hill is partnering with 'Good Boy' director Ben Leonberg on 'Follow Mode,' a drone-shot horror film launching sales at Cannes. (more)
Molly Manning Walker is directing 'Not Another F**king Wedding' for A24 and Plan B. (more)
Jeremy Strong is starring in 'The Passenger,' a Kristallnacht-set escape thriller from Oscar-nominated 'Girl with the Needle' director Magnus von Horn. (more)
TV Development 📺
Amazon MGM Studios is in early talks on an 'Apprentice' reboot, and apparently Donald Trump Jr. has been floated as a potential host. (more)
A24 optioned Alexis Hall's BookTok hit 'Boyfriend Material' and is developing it as a TV series. (more)
AMC greenlit 'Thunder Road,' a NASCAR drama starring Dennis Quaid. Premiere is planned for 2027. (more)
Claire Danes is leading 'Lovesick' at Netflix, a straight-to-series romantic drama. (more)
Disney+ is developing a live-action ‘Casper,’ series from Steven Spielberg, Rob Letterman and Hilary Winston, following a bidding war. (more)
Business 🤝
Paramount subscribers filed a federal lawsuit to block the $110B WBD merger on antitrust grounds, the first legal challenge to the deal. (more)
Hiro Murai has re-upped his FX first-look deal as his Apple horror-comedy ‘Widow’s Bay,’ premieres. (more)
WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels renewed his contract through 2028, coming with a $2.5M base salary. (more)
YouTube subscriptions are growing faster than its ad business, helping push parent Alphabet Inc. past 350M paid users. (more)
Taye Diggs is launching Microhouse Films, a new microdrama platform aimed at letting creators produce, distribute, and monetize content directly. (more)
RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…
🎥 THEATRICAL
The Devil Wears Prada 2: Legacy sequel reuniting Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.
Hokum: Folk horror from director Damian McCarthy, starring Adam Scott.
Deep Water: Shark-survival thriller starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley.
Animal Farm: Andy Serkis' animated take on the Orwell classic, voiced by Seth Rogen, Glenn Close, and Kieran Culkin.
📺 STREAMING
Man on Fire: (Netflix) Action thriller series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Widow's Bay: (Apple TV+) Horror-comedy starring Matthew Rhys. 100% on RT.
Swapped: (Netflix) Animated family comedy with Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple voicing.
🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' is tracking for a massive $75-100M domestic debut and ~$180M worldwide. 'Michael' should hold strong in week two at $40-42M. The newcomers ('Hokum,' 'Animal Farm,' 'Deep Water') are all projected at $5M or under.
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
That's a wrap on this week. If someone forwarded this to you, just hit subscribe and we'll see you in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Have a great weekend.
-The Dailies Team