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👋 Good morning! If you submitted a ballot on The Dailies' Oscar Predictions app, take a bow: Our readers' consensus predicted the Oscars more accurately than Variety, Deadline, and prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. Thousands of you filled out ballots, nobody nailed a perfect one (some got close), but the collective wisdom of this readership knew what it was talking about. Then again, when your audience is the industry’s best, that tracks. Full Oscars recap below.
Welcome back to The Dailies. Pour your coffee, nurse that Oscar party hangover (two glasses of wine counts), and we'll get you caught up. 👇
BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Hoppers’ keeps hopping…
Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in ‘Reminders of Him’ (Universal Pictures)
| WEEKEND TOTAL $83.7M| VS. 2025 37.7%| VS. LAST WKND -11.8% | |
Hoppers WK 2 $28.5M domestic weekend (-37%) · Domestic total: $86.8M · Global total: $164.7M · Budget: $150M Pixar's original hit is holding like a champ with a second weekend on par with 'Coco,' and it's already the highest-grossing animated film of the year globally. Oh, and China hasn't even opened yet. | |
Reminders of Him NEW $18.3M domestic weekend · Global total: $28.2M · Budget: $25M Colleen Hoover's third big-screen adaptation outpaced expectations with an 81% female audience. It topped 'Regretting You's' $13.7M bow but came in well short of 'It Ends With Us's' monster $50M launch. | |
Undertone NEW $9.3M domestic weekend · Budget: $500K A24's micro-budgeted audio horror pic over-performed expectations, though a C CinemaScore and 52% audience score point to a steep drop ahead. Not that it matters much when your production budget has fewer zeroes than most marketing campaigns. | |
Scream 7 WK 3 $8.4M domestic weekend (-51%) · Domestic total: $106.5M · Global total: $176.9M · Budget: $45M The latest entry in the slasher franchise crossed $100M domestically in just 15 days (a franchise record) and is now the highest-grossing 'Scream' installment worldwide, passing the 1996 original's $173M. | |
GOAT WK 5 $4.7M domestic weekend (-27%) · Domestic total: $90.6M · Global total: $162.8M · Budget: $80M | |
The Bride! WK 2 $2.1M domestic weekend (-70%) · Domestic total: $11.3M · Global total: $21M · Budget: $80M Maggie Gyllenhaal's monster pic continues to get rejected by audiences and critics alike. A 70% second-weekend plunge on an $80M budget is the kind of freefall that makes studio accountants reach for the Tums. | |
Kiki's Delivery Service RE-RELEASE $1.7M domestic weekend GKids' 4K remaster of the 1989 Studio Ghibli classic continues a successful partnership with IMAX following last spring's 'Princess Mononoke' rerelease. | |
Wuthering Heights WK 5 $1.7M domestic weekend (-55%) · Domestic total: $81.9M · Global total: $226.4M · Budget: $80M | |
TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze RE-RELEASE $1.5M domestic weekend Cowabunga, indeed. | |
Crime 101 WK 5 $1.1M domestic weekend (-44%) · Domestic total: $35.6M · Global total: $67M · Budget: $90M | |
The bigger picture: The top three all over-performed expectations this weekend, accounting for nearly 70% of overall business. Year-to-date domestic grosses are running 15% ahead of 2025, and that gap could widen next weekend: Ryan Gosling's 'Project Hail Mary' hits theaters with massive buzz, a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and tracking in the $60-80M range.
AWARDS SEASON
🏆 And the Oscar goes to…
The 'One Battle After Another' cast and crew accept Best Picture Academy Awards (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The 98th Academy Awards took place last night at the Dolby Theatre, with Conan O'Brien back for a second straight year as host. Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another' took Best Picture after months of a neck-and-neck race with Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners.' PTA’s film led the night with six wins; Coogler's took four. Both came from Warner Bros., putting a bow on a monster 2025 for the studio. Here’s the rundown:
'One Battle After Another' cleaned up in the big ones: Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay for Anderson, who somehow had 11 career nominations without a single win before last night.
Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his dual role in 'Sinners,’ his fifth film with Coogler and the one that finally got him an Oscar.
Jessie Buckley took Best Actress for 'Hamnet,' becoming the first Irish woman to ever win the category.
Amy Madigan nabbed Best Supporting Actress for 'Weapons,' 40 years after her first and only other nomination.
Sean Penn won Supporting Actor but didn't bother showing up. Presenter Kieran Culkin: “He couldn't be here this evening, or didn't want to.”
See the full list of winners here. 👈👀
Some other stuff that happened…
Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win Best Cinematography, for her work on 'Sinners.'
Cassandra Kulukundis won the first-ever Best Casting Oscar for 'One Battle After Another.' The category came after years of casting directors lobbying for their own award, and Kulukundis promptly upset Francine Maisler, who was widely considered a lock for 'Sinners.'
Best Live-Action Short ended in a tie between 'Two People Exchanging Saliva' and 'The Singers,' just the seventh tie in Oscar history. That hasn't happened since 2013, and it nearly broke our Oscar Predictions app. We didn't build for that.
'Marty Supreme' went home empty-handed, a rough end to a bumpy awards season for Timothée Chalamet, who entered the race as the early Best Actor frontrunner.
And with that, the 2025-26 awards season is in the books. The Emmys cycle kicks off this summer, so enjoy the calm while it lasts.
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CONTRACT SEASON
✍️ WGA steps into negotiations, SAG steps out…
SAG-AFTRA spent a month at the table with the studios, even extended talks by a week, and still couldn't get a deal done. Both sides are pressing pause and will try again in June before the contract expires June 30.
Meanwhile, the WGA picks up the baton today, kicking off its own bargaining sessions on a new three-year contract that expires May 1. Despite a brutal job market for writers, union leadership has no plans to soften its demands on streaming residuals, healthcare, and AI protections.
The guild is also dealing with a complicated subplot: its own 110-member staff union has been on strike since mid-February over wages and job protections. The WGA sweetened its offer last week, but the staff union rejected it. If that isn't resolved, staffers could end up picketing outside the very building where Minimum Basic Agreement negotiations are taking place. Stay tuned.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Bradley Cooper is circling to write, direct, and potentially star in Warner Bros.’ ‘Ocean’s’ prequel. (more)
Paramount has passed on Max Landis’ treatment for a new ‘G.I. Joe’ movie. (more)
Brass Knuckle Films has unveiled a five-project slate led by three original films from Robert Rodriguez. (more)
Amy Redford will direct Anna Camp in indie feature ‘Salt & Honey,’ with Angel Studios acquiring global distribution rights. (more)
TV Development 📺
Seaview has launched a TV division led by former A24 exec Jess Lubben and struck a first-look deal with ‘Severance’ producer Fifth Season. (more)
Nathan Fillion says an animated revival of ‘Firefly’ is in development with the original cast expected to return. (more)
NBCUniversal is canceling ‘Access Hollywood,’ and exiting the first-run syndication business as daytime talk continues to decline. (more)
Jordana Brewster has joined Prime Video thriller series ‘Bishop.’ (more)
Hulu has scrapped its Sarah Michelle Gellar-led reboot of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ (more)
Peacock has renewed ‘Love Island USA,’ for S8. (more)
Other News 📰
Drew Comins has signed an overall TV deal with A24 for his Creative Engine Entertainment banner. (more)
Peacock is launching an AI-generated Andy Cohen to deliver personalized Bravo recaps and vertical video clips. (more)
Paramount will fold BET+ into Paramount+ after buying out Tyler Perry’s stake in the streamer. (more)
Amazon is raising the price of Prime Video’s ad-free tier to $5/month and rebranding it as ‘Prime Video Ultra.’ (more)
VIDEO VILLAGE
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See you Wednesday.
-The Dailies Team