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👋 Good morning! Yes, the Oscar nominations are here. But first, allow us a quick detour to the gutter: The 2026 Razzie nominations dropped, and Disney's 'Snow White' nabbed six nods including Worst Picture. For the uninitiated, the Razzies are Hollywood’s worst-of-the-year awards: a $4.97 spray-painted trophy handed out the night before the Academy Awards. Also up for Worst Screen Combo: "The Weeknd & His Colossal Ego." Full list here. Worth a scroll.

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Dailies. Now, onto the awards people actually campaign for. 👇

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

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in ‘The Rip’

FILM 🎥

Netflix: The Rip

HBO Max: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Disney+: Luca

Prime Video: Playdate

Paramount+: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

Hulu: Prey

Apple TV: F1: The Movie

Peacock: Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie

TV 📺

Netflix: His & Hers

HBO Max: The Pitt

Disney+: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Prime Video: Fallout

Paramount+: Landman

Hulu: 11.22.63

Apple TV: Hijack

Peacock: The Traitors

How last week’s releases are stacking up…

  • 💰The Rip: (Netflix) Debuted with 41.6M global views in its first three days per Netflix, making it the streamer's biggest film opening since 'Happy Gilmore 2' (46.7M) back in July. Domestically, Luminate reports 10.5M views in the same window.

  • ✈️ Hijack: (Apple TV) The S2 premiere pulled 2.5M US views in its opening week per Luminate, down about 22% from S1's premiere (3.2M). Still a solid result for Apple, landing ahead of 'Silo' S2 but below top performers like 'Your Friends & Neighbors.'

  • 🕵️‍♀️ PONIES: (Peacock) The pilot pulled 3.7M views in week 1, with the season averaging 1.5M views and logging 10.6M hours streamed in the US per Luminate. Solid by Peacock standards, but a step below last month's 'The Copenhagen Test,' which opened to 2.9M season views and 20M hours.

  • ⚔️ A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: (HBO Max) Opened to 6.7M US viewers in its first three days per Warner Bros. Discovery. For context, 'House of the Dragon' debuted to around 10M on premiere night alone. A clear step down, but still respectable for a smaller-scale spinoff.

Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Jan. 16 to Jan. 22. Data provided by Luminate.

AWARDS SEASON
🏆 Oscar nominations are here…

Lewis Pullman and Danielle Brooks announce the nominees for Best Picture (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman announced this year's nominees yesterday, and Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' walked out with 16 of them. That's an all-time record, for those keeping score at home. 'Titanic,' 'All About Eve,' and 'La La Land' held the previous record of 14. The vampire horror swept nearly every major category: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, plus acting nods for Michael B. Jordan (Actor), Delroy Lindo (Supporting Actor), and Wunmi Mosaku (Supporting Actress).

Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another' came in second with 13 nominations, including Picture, Director, and a quartet of acting nods (Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor). Some other highlights:

  • 'Frankenstein,' 'Marty Supreme,' and 'Sentimental Value' each landed nine nominations.

  • Timothée Chalamet picked up his third Best Actor nom for 'Marty Supreme,' making him the youngest actor since Marlon Brando to hit that milestone.

  • Warner Bros. dominated the studio race with 30 total noms across its slate.

  • The Academy unveiled its first-ever Best Casting nominees, the first new category since 2002.

  • See the full list here. 👈👀

As for the snubs: 'Wicked: For Good' went home empty-handed, one year after part one earned 10 nods. Neither Cynthia Erivo nor Ariana Grande cracked the acting categories, and both new songs missed. Paul Mescal ('Hamnet') was widely expected to become the first actor nominated for playing Shakespeare. He is now the answer to a very specific trivia question. Chase Infiniti missed for 'One Battle After Another' despite her Globe nom, and Guillermo del Toro didn't make Best Director for 'Frankenstein.'

Looking ahead… Final voting runs February 26 through March 5. Conan O'Brien returns to host the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, live on ABC.

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WIDESHOT
🎬 ‘Star Search,’ WBD drama, and FilmTok…

(Netflix’s ‘Star Search’)

📺 Netflix just launched real-time voting for its new live talent show. The streamer launched 'Star Search' this week, a live reboot of the '80s talent competition featuring real-time voting. While episodes air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, viewers can rate performances 1-5 stars directly through the Netflix app on smart TVs, streaming devices, or mobile. Browsers aren't invited to the party, sadly. Each profile only gets one vote per performance, and once you've submitted, there's no changing your mind. It's a notable shift for the binge-watching pioneers, though Netflix has been steadily creeping toward appointment TV with NFL games and the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight. Full circle, as they say.

🥊 Say what you will, Paramount's committed. David Ellison's company said yesterday it filed materials in anticipation of a proxy fight to persuade shareholders to reject Netflix's all-cash $83B deal for WBD, while extending the deadline for shareholders to tender their shares to Feb. 20. WBD fired back, saying 93% of shareholders have already rejected what it calls Paramount's "inferior scheme." The board has now turned down Ellison eight times, which is either admirable persistence or the M&A equivalent of not taking the hint. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is set to testify before the Senate in February to make the case for his deal, while the DOJ has requested more information from both companies, extending its regulatory review.

📱 TikTok is planting its flag at Sundance. The platform is bringing 10 creators to Park City to cover red carpets, interview talent, and attend premieres. For those who've somehow avoided it, the film-loving corner of TikTok (colloquially known as FilmTok) has become massive: #FilmTok and #MovieTok racked up over 3M posts in 2025, up 54% YoY. TikTok is also using Sundance to debut two new ad products that let studios target users based on things like genre preferences and convert them directly into subscribers and ticket buyers. In other words, TikTok's pitch to Hollywood is that it isn't just where movies go viral, it's a full-funnel audience-building engine.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

  • DC Studios tapped Christina Hodson to write Batman movie ‘The Brave and the Bold,’ with Andy Muschietti still attached to direct. (more)

  • Mark Wahlberg and Riz Ahmed are set to star in Netflix crime thriller ‘The Big Fix,’ with Baltasar Kormákur directing for Chernin Entertainment. (more)

  • Mila Kunis will star in and produce Amazon MGM thriller ‘Nightwatching,’ adapted from Tracy Sierra’s novel and produced by Scott Free. (more)

  • Sydney Sweeney will star in and produce StudioCanal’s Edith Wharton adaptation ‘Custom of the Country,’ with Josie Rourke directing. (more)

  • Jamie Lee Curtis will star in Universal’s ‘Murder, She Wrote’ movie, with Jason Moore set to direct. (more)

TV Development 📺

  • Anthony Davis scored a full-season order at TBS for prank series ‘Foul Play with Anthony Davis.’ (more)

  • Disney+ UK is developing caper drama ‘After the Move to Nevada,’ written by ‘Fool Me Once’ scribe Danny Brocklehurst. (more)

  • Telemundo is bringing back ratings juggernaut ‘Lord of the Skies’ for an unprecedented 10th season. (more)

  • Christina Ricci will star in and exec produce Peacock’s ‘The Astrology House’. (more)

  • Alix Earle landed an untitled Netflix reality series following the influencer and her inner circle, set to debut later this year. (more)

Business 🤝

  • Blumhouse-Atomic Monster named former Shudder exec Sam Zimmerman SVP of development and acquisitions. (more)

  • Sylvester Stallone re-upped Balboa Productions’ first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios. (more)

  • Bob Iger saw his 2025 pay climb to $45.8M as Disney’s board reaffirmed plans to name his successor in early 2026. (more)

  • Bill Block’s GammaTime teamed with Spikes Studio to build a premium library of AI-powered vertical shorts from existing content catalogs. (more)

Other News 🚨

  • A list of 700 Hollywood celebrities and creatives launched the “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign against unlicensed AI training. (more)

  • Kristen Bell will host Netflix’s ‘The Actor Awards’ for a third time, returning March 1 from Los Angeles. (more)

  • The domain cinema.ai is for sale (and instant purchase). (more)*

    *sponsored

RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…

🎥 THEATRICAL

  • Mercy: Sci-fi thriller starring Chris Pratt as a detective on trial before an AI judge, with Rebecca Ferguson.

  • The Testament of Ann Lee: Epic historical musical drama starring Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shakers goes wide this weekend.

  • H Is for Hawk: Biographical drama starring Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson, based on Helen MacDonald's memoir.

📺 STREAMING

  • Steal: (Prime Video) British heist thriller starring Sophie Turner and Archie Madekwe.

  • Drops of God: (Apple TV) S2 of the International Emmy-winning multilingual drama about wine, inheritance, and family secrets.

  • The Beauty: (FX/Hulu) Ryan Murphy's body horror series starring Evan Peters and Ashton Kutcher.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Looks like 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' might finally lose its crown after five weeks on top. Chris Pratt's AI courtroom thriller 'Mercy' is projected to open around $10-15M, just enough to edge out ‘Avatar’ ($7-10M) in a photo finish. Meanwhile, '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' is hoping strong word-of-mouth (A- CinemaScore, 93% RT) can salvage a disappointing $12.5M debut.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments

That's a wrap for today. If someone forwarded this your way, do yourself a favor and subscribe below so you're not relying on their generosity forever. 👇📧

Have a great weekend! See you back here Monday.

-The Dailies Team

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