🎬 The Final Answer is... Streaming

👋 Good morning! The universe is vast, mysterious, and infinite… and now it has Pedro Pascal as its official tour guide. The ‘Last of Us’ star is now narrating planetarium films—specifically ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ at NYC's Hayden Planetarium, starting June 9. The man went from battling post-apocalyptic fungi to explaining the wonders of Oort clouds, joining the surprisingly star-studded cosmos narrator club alongside Tom Hanks and Whoopi Goldberg.

Welcome to The Dailies. Whether you're reading this from your couch or between screenings at Tribeca Film Festival (which kicks off today), we've got you covered with the industry's essential morning briefing.

CLOSEUP
📉 Disney’s routine culling continues right on schedule…

Disney struck again this week, axing several hundred employees globally—the fourth and largest round of cuts in just 10 months. At this point, it's less "restructuring" and more like a permanent downsizing operation. The latest carnage hit film and TV marketing, television publicity, casting, development, and corporate finance. Disney's brutal scorecard:

• 2023: 7,000 people eliminated

• May 2024: 175 people at Pixar (14% of workforce)

• July 2024: 140 people (including 60 at National Geographic)

• October 2024: 75 people (ABC Signature shutdown)

• March 2025: ~200 people (mostly ABC News)

• This week: Several hundred more…

Why the endless cuts? Cable TV's death spiral is accelerating faster than streaming can fill the revenue gap. Cable lost 1.3M subscribers in Q1 alone—up from 1.25M the previous year. When your financial foundation crumbles, everything built on top starts shaking.

Disney's not alone. Warner Bros Discovery is cutting under 100 more people this month, Paramount has "another round" coming, and the new Versant cable spin-off launched with just "over 100" positions despite 5,000+ applicants.

The bigger picture: What started as "temporary restructuring for streaming" has become Hollywood's permanent business model. Bob Iger's $7.5B cost-reduction goal wasn't a one-time fix—it's the new normal. These companies are essentially paying to dismantle the very infrastructure that made them profitable.

Looking ahead… Don't expect this trend to slow down. Every quarter brings more cord-cutting, which means more "efficiency initiatives" across the industry. The streaming revolution was supposed to make everything more efficient, but turns out the transition period is like renovating your house while living in it. Expensive, messy, and someone's always getting displaced.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

YELLOWJACKETS, the critically acclaimed Showtime Original series, follows a team of wildly talented high school soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness, while also examining the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later. Starring an ensemble cast led by Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci, season three proves that what began out in the wilderness is far from over. Emmys eligible in all categories, including Outstanding Drama Series.

Now Streaming.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Gameshows, Meta, and California…

📺 The final answer is... streaming. Sony Pictures Television struck a deal to bring next-day episodes of ‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ to Peacock and Hulu starting this September, marking the first time these broadcast cornerstones will be available for streaming in the U.S. The move comes amid an ongoing courtroom drama between Sony and CBS over distribution rights. While both shows still draw roughly 7M nightly viewers, that audience is aging and declining alongside traditional television—making Sony's pivot to streaming all the more strategic. With 425 annual episodes, these shows offer streamers a coveted "daily habit" to reduce churn, plus $175M in yearly ad revenue potential. The games shows join a growing exodus of broadcast holdouts who've made the leap: WWE Raw to Netflix, NFL to Amazon, Oscars to Hulu. The appointment TV empire is down to its final contestants.

🤖 Zuckerberg just declared war on creative agencies. Meta is building AI tools that'll let brands upload a product photo and budget, then automatically spit out complete video campaigns—no humans required. The system gets creepy-smart with targeting: someone in Colorado might see a car commercial with snowy mountain roads, while a New Yorker gets the same car cruising city streets. CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants businesses to just tell Meta their goals and budget while "we just do the rest." The rollout by end-2026 could be helpful for small businesses who can't afford production crews, but it's also gunning straight for the creative agencies, commercial directors, and freelance video pros who've been making bank on brand content. Another creative industry getting the AI treatment.

💸 California just fired the latest shot in Hollywood's tax credit arms race. The state's legislature advanced companion bills yesterday that would expand film and TV tax incentives, boosting credits from 20% to 35% for LA-area productions and opening eligibility to animated shows and half-hour series. But here's the curveball: lawmakers recently stripped out language for the funding increase that would raise California's annual cap from $330M to $750M—that's a separate fight now. What's next: The bills still need to clear the opposing chambers and get reconciled, then June 15 brings the real moment of truth when the legislature's budget vote decides whether California will actually put up the $750M to compete with New York's $800M and Georgia's uncapped program.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• James Cameron will adapt Joe Abercrombie’s dark fantasy bestseller ‘The Devils’ as his next project after ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’ (more)

• Skydance has acquired Aneesh Chaganty’s spy thriller ‘Doppelgänger,’ with Proximity Media and Search Party producing. (more)

• Paramount is adapting Rebecca Ross’ hit fantasy romance ‘Divine Rivals,’ with ‘To All the Boys’ writer Sofia Alvarez set to pen the script. (more)

• Blumhouse is adapting hit paranormal horror game ‘Phasmophobia’ into a film, partnering with Atomic Monster and Kinetic Games. (more)

• Netflix has landed a new Hawaii-set action comedy starring Andy Samberg and Jason Momoa, written by SNL vets Rob Klein and John Solomon. (more)

• Janus Films has acquired U.S. rights to Lav Diaz’s Cannes historical epic ‘Magellan,’ marking its second major festival pickup this year. (more)

• Tubi has acquired Destry Allyn Spielberg’s directorial debut ‘Please Don’t Feed the Children.’ (more)

• Utopia has acquired SXSW hit ‘Mermaid,’ a dark comedy thriller starring Johnny Pemberton, for a 2026 theatrical release. (more)

• Luca Guadagnino is in talks to direct ‘Artificial’ for Amazon MGM, with Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, and Yura Borisov circling. (more)

• Netflix has won a heated auction for Heather Regnier’s comedy spec ‘Starfckers*,’ with Jonah Hill and Strong Baby producing. (more)

• Amazon MGM Studios is closing a $2M+ deal to acquire ‘Split Fiction,’ a video game adaptation from Jon M. Chu and Sydney Sweeney. (more)

TV Development 📺

• A24 and Channel 4 are developing ‘Major Players’, a women’s soccer series from ‘How to Have Sex’ director Molly Manning Walker. (more)

• Elijah Wood, Moses Ingram, Lauren Holt, and Josh Brener have joined Rachel Sennott’s upcoming HBO comedy series. (more)

• Netflix is producing ‘My Sad Dead’, a four-part horror miniseries from Pablo Larraín based on Mariana Enríquez’s chilling short stories. (more)

• Netflix has acquired U.S. rights to Thomas Vinterberg’s debut series ‘Families Like Ours,’ launching June 10. (more)

Business 🤝

• Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders rejected CEO David Zaslav’s $51.9M pay package in a symbolic, nonbinding vote. (more)

• Mubi has officially hit unicorn status, closing a $100M funding round led by Sequoia Capital that values the company at $1B. (more)

• Paramount Global is adding three new board members as it deals with the Skydance merger review and President Trump’s ongoing lawsuit. (more)

• 3 Arts Entertainment has acquired A&A Management Group, expanding into sports and adding athlete brand-building to its portfolio. (more)

• Byron Allen is putting his 28 local TV stations up for sale to help reduce Allen Media Group’s debt. (more)

Executive Suite 👨‍💼👩‍💼

• Film4’s Ollie Madden and Farhana Bhula are joining Netflix to lead its UK film team. (more)

• Bleecker Street has promoted Kent Sanderson to CEO following the passing of founder Andrew Karpen. (more)

• Nicole Clemens has joined Amazon as VP and Head of International Originals. (more)

Other News 🚨

• A $95M subsidy plan for a Sony and Warner Bros.-backed Las Vegas studio died in the Nevada Senate, halting the project until at least 2027. (more)

• The 2025 Gotham TV Awards took place in NYC—here’s a complete list of winners.

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