🎬 Subtitle Phobia

👋 Good morning! Netflix is taking their first venture into marketing via REM cycle. The streamer's partnering with meditation app Calm to transform their Oscar hopeful 'Train Dreams' into a 20-minute bedtime story, with Will Patton whispering sweet cinematic nothings into your ear as you drift off. It’s like ‘Inception,’ but instead of stealing secrets they’re planting Oscar campaigns.

Welcome back to The Dailies. Hope your weekend was solid. We've got fresh box office data, and all the industry intel to kickstart your week. Let’s get into it. 👇

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ November picks up the pieces…

1. 👽 Predator: Badlands: 🆕 $40M domestic opening, $80M global debut, $105M budget. Dan Trachtenberg's PG-13 take scores the biggest Predator opening ever, plus the franchise's best CinemaScore (A-). Premium formats drove a massive 59% of the total.

2. 💔 Regretting You: (Wk 3) $7.1M domestic weekend (-9%), $38.5M domestic total, $70.9M global, $30M budget.

3. 📞 Black Phone 2: (Wk 4) $5.3M domestic weekend (-36%), $70.1M domestic total, $120M global, $30M budget.

4. 👧 Sarah's Oil: 🆕 $4.45M domestic opening. Kingdom Story's faith-based drama strikes gold with an A+ CinemaScore.

5. ⚖️ Nuremberg: 🆕 $4M domestic opening. Sony Pictures Classics' WWII courtroom drama earns platinum audience exits (93% positive) despite middling reviews.

6. 🪚 Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc: (Wk 3) $3.6M domestic weekend (-42%), $38M domestic total, $137.1M global, $4.1M budget. The anime adaptation continues printing money with nearly 10x returns on its micro-budget.

7. 👩‍🦲 Bugonia: (Wk 3) $3.5M domestic weekend (-30%), $12.3M domestic total, $23.1M global, $55M budget.

8. 👩‍❤️‍👨 Die, My Love: 🆕 $2.83M domestic opening. Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson couldn't save this psychodrama from a brutal D+ CinemaScore.

9. 🎸 Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere: (Wk 3) $2.2M domestic weekend (-42%), $20.4M domestic total, $34.6M global, $55M budget.

10. 🏍️ Tron: Ares: (Wk 5) $1.8M domestic weekend (-41%), $71.26M domestic total, $139.4M global, $180M budget.

The bigger picture: The weekend pulled in $83M domestically, up 17% from the same frame last year. 'Predator: Badlands' led the charge, helping theaters recover from October's dismal box office performance. Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney's 'Christy' couldn't even crack the top 10 with just $1.3M on 2,000+ screens ($649 per theater), ranking among the worst wide-release openings of all time. 2025's box office is holding at 3% ahead of last year's pace with $7.1B year-to-date. Next weekend's looking solid with 'The Running Man' and 'Now You See Me 3' keeping November's momentum rolling.

CLOSEUP
🌎 American viewers are over their subtitle phobia…

Foreign-language films have officially crossed over. What started as arthouse fodder is now mainstream entertainment gunning for major awards. Distributors like Neon are pushing five international titles this awards season alone.

The trend is clear: Before 2017, only 10 non-English films had ever scored Best Picture nods. Since 2018, twelve have made the cut, including 'Parasite's' historic win and 2024’s double nomination of 'Anatomy of a Fall' and 'The Zone of Interest.'

So how'd we get here?

• The streaming revolution did the heavy lifting. Netflix and rivals needed global content, training American audiences to embrace subtitles through hits like 'Squid Game' and 'Lupin.' Their algorithms don't discriminate—if you like thrillers, they'll serve you Korean suspense films until you bite.

• Major studios retreated to franchise tentpoles, abandoning mid-budget dramas and leaving the prestige space wide open for international players.

• The younger generation gets it: they already watch everything with subtitles on (even English content). When TikTok transforms 'Parasite' into memes and 'Squid Game' into Halloween costumes, subtitles stop being barriers and start being irrelevant.

• The Academy has transformed, too. Its increasingly diverse membership now includes 25% international voters, making subtitled films viable contenders for major awards.

Even "foreign" is getting fuzzy: We're seeing more polyglot productions that blend multiple languages from the start. 'Anatomy of a Fall' moved between French, English, and German. This year's 'Sentimental Value' flows between Norwegian and English with Elle Fanning, generating serious Best Picture buzz.

Looking ahead… Expect this trend to accelerate as streamers keep feeding the global appetite. Insiders predict this year could shatter records with three or more foreign-language Best Picture nominees.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
For Your Consideration - NUREMBERG from Sony Pictures Classics…

WIDESHOT
🎬 American Film Market, AI “actors,” and Netflix…

🤝 The American Film Market kicks off tomorrow. The six-day event runs through November 16 at Century City's Fairmont, back home after last year's Vegas stint didn't quite click. AFM is where independent films get bought, sold, and financed, with strong turnout this year: 260+ companies from 70 countries. But if last year's trends hold, the deals at AFM will look different. Streaming buyers have grown pickier, focusing on star-driven projects or genre fare like horror and thrillers. Theatrical distributors want either blockbusters or micro-budget films, while mid-range dramas have been struggling to find buyers. New this year is an Innovation Hub focused on AI in filmmaking, as the industry explores how tech might reshape the business.

🤖 Remember that controversial AI "actress"? Her creator just revealed 40 more are coming. Eline Van der Velden gave her first interview since September's industry uproar, when her announcement that talent agents were circling her AI creation Tilly Norwood sparked condemnation from, well, pretty much everyone in the industry. She now says she’s developing 40 more AI characters but insists they're not meant to replace actors, instead existing in a "third genre" alongside animation and live-action. Van der Velden clarified she's turned down roles where Tilly would substitute for humans. Despite the public backlash, she claims agencies are still calling, and Academy Award winners are quietly reaching out to her team about projects.

📺 Netflix is betting big on reality competitions based on popular franchises. The streaming giant ordered 34 reality competition seasons this year, which makes up 9% of all shows ordered and its highest percentage since Ampere began tracking in 2020. The push reflects Netflix's broader diversification strategy (see also: their recent podcast expansion), adapting originals like 'Squid Game: The Challenge' (S2 just dropped) and turning IP like 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' 'Clue,' and 'Monopoly' into unscripted competitions. It's working: 95% of viewers who watched the 'Squid Game' reality spinoff also watched the original. These shows cost substantially less than scripted content while delivering similar engagement, creating a low-risk content cushion that helps offset Netflix's bigger bets.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• Ncuti Gatwa's joining Cynthia Erivo in Warner Bros.' animated musical 'Bad Fairies,' hitting theaters May 21, 2027. (more)

• Ryan Reynolds is set to star in and produce Amazon MGM's 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' remake. (more)

• Leila George has joined Netflix’s limited series ‘All the Sinners Bleed,’ based on S.A. Cosby’s novel and led by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù. (more)

• Toni Collette and Milly Alcock will star in the Australian survival thriller ‘Hot Mother,’ about a mother-daughter duo trapped in a deadly sauna. (more)

• Lucas Bravo will star opposite Emma Roberts in the Napa Valley rom-com murder mystery ‘A Murder Uncorked,’ directed by Ari Sandel. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Amazon Prime Video is developing S2 of ‘The Assassin’ after it became their top-rated U.K. drama of 2025. (more)

• Rory Scovel is joining Rachel Bloom in ABC’s comedy pilot ‘Do You Want Kids?,’ exploring parallel lives with and without children. (more)

• Brett Goldstein will star in and co-run Amazon’s romantic comedy ‘Escorted’, playing a divorced dad who accidentally becomes a male escort. (more)

• Nate Bargatze will host ABC’s new game show ‘The Greatest Average American,’ launching February 25. (more)

• HBO is developing an American adaptation of ‘Call My Agent’ from ‘The Other Two’ co-creator Sarah Schneider. (more)

• ‘Love Island: Beyond the Villa’ is renewed for S2 at Peacock. (more)

Business 🤝

• ITV is in talks to sell its Media & Entertainment division to Sky for $2.1B, a deal that would reshape the U.K. TV landscape if approved. (more)

• CBS and Sony settled their ‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ dispute, keeping CBS as U.S. distributor through 2028. (more)

• AMC Networks reported a 17% drop in U.S. ad revenue but grew streaming income 14%, ending Q3 with 10.4M subscribers. (more)

Other News 🚨

• YouTube TV will issue $20 credits to subscribers affected by its ongoing Disney channel blackout. (more)

• WGA tapped Ellen Stutzman, John August, and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel to lead its first contract talks since the 2023 strike. (more)

• ‘Golden’ from ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ scored four Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year. (more)

MARTINI SHOT
📅 The week ahead…

• THIS AFTERNOON: Paramount’s earnings announcement 📢

• THURSDAY: Disney’s earnings announcement 📊

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments