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👋 Good morning! Stanley Kubrick's daughter just addressed the infamous "lost 20 minutes" of 'Eyes Wide Shut.' Whether that puts it to rest or the cover-up just got one level deeper is up to you. The theory, for the uninitiated: the studio cut footage after Kubrick died because the film's masked secret society was a little too based on real people. Vivian Kubrick says she never heard of any missing footage, has never seen evidence, and calls it "an actual conspiracy theory, not an established fact." Also, her dad incinerated his outtakes after every film (no director's cuts, only director's bonfires). Sorry, Reddit. The 159-minute version is the version.
Welcome back to The Dailies. Quick housekeeping: no edition Monday for Labor Day, we'll see you Tuesday. Now, before you check out for the long weekend, let's get you caught up. 👇
TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…
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| LAST WEEK'S NEW RELEASES | |
 | The Whisper Man NetflixFILM Opened to 8.6M US views, Luminate reports, and 23.2M globally by Netflix's count. Reviews were rough, and audiences showed up anyway. For scale, Netflix's biggest film of the year, 'The Rip,' debuted at 12.1M domestic / 41.6M global. That should land 'The Whisper Man' in Netflix's top five films of 2026. |
 | Beauty in Black NetflixSERIES S3 pulled 4.4M US views and 27.7M hours watched in its first week, according to Luminate, a touch ahead of S2's 4.1M-view debut. Tyler Perry's Netflix run stays reliable. |
 | Death of the Pastor's Wife NetflixSERIES A big one. Luminate has it at 12.1M US views in Week 1, off just three episodes. True crime is still Netflix's safest bet. |
Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Aug. 27 to Sep. 2. Data provided by Luminate.
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
🇮🇹 Venice is rolling into day three on the Lido…
Danny Boyle, Jack O'Connell, Claire Foy, and Guy Pearce at the 'Ink' premiere in Venice. (Kate Green/Getty Images)
As this email hits inboxes (and the West Coast hits its first cup of coffee), the 83rd Venice Film Festival is already halfway through its third day. Here's a rundown of the bigger premieres so far:
Danny Boyle's 'Ink' opened the fest. The Netflix drama, adapted from James Graham's play about Rupert Murdoch's 1969 takeover of The Sun, stars Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy. Critics mostly loved it, with a lot of the praise going to O'Connell (and at least one review comparing it to 'Citizen Kane' by way of 'Trainspotting').
Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine' landed yesterday, with John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents on Easter Island in 1973. It's the clear hit of the fest so far. The premiere drew the longest ovation yet, reviews are mostly glowing, and Malkovich is already being talked about as an early Best Actor frontrunner (he politely shrugged off the Oscar talk at the presser). Searchlight releases it Nov. 6.
Werner Herzog's 'Bucking Fastard' cast Kate and Rooney Mara as sisters who do everything in unison (walk, dress, speak the same words at the same time), and critics are all over the place on it. Some found it weirdly tender, others called it tiring, and pretty much everyone agrees the Maras are the reason to see it. The premiere audience was warmer than the reviews. Classic Herzog, basically.
All told, 21 films are competing for the Golden Lion this year, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is running the jury.
Looking ahead… Cédric Kahn's '15/18 (A Place to Heal)' and Shinya Tsukamoto's 'Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?' premiere in competition today, along with Paul Schrader's 'The Basics of Philosophy' out of competition. The weekend brings Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen in 'Primetime,' Al Pacino in 'Father Joe,' the Oasis reunion doc, and Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love.'
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TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL
🏔️ And over in Colorado, Telluride kicks off today…
(Vivien Killilea/Getty Images)
Telluride revealed its 53rd edition slate yesterday, about 24 hours before the first screening. That's tradition: The lineup stays secret until the day before, which makes it the festival equivalent of a restaurant with no menu (you just trust the chef). On the menu: 34 features, a heavy Cannes contingent, and a handful of world premieres that'll be hogging the Oscar conversation by Monday. The headliners:
'Elsinore' (Focus): Andrew Scott as Ian Charleson, the 'Chariots of Fire' actor who played Hamlet while dying of AIDS. Olivia Colman co-stars.
'The Debut' (A24): Jesse Eisenberg's follow-up to 'A Real Pain,' with Julianne Moore as a housewife who goes full method in a community theater musical. Paul Giamatti plays the director from hell.
'Tender Loving Care' (Bleecker Street): Mike Leigh's latest and, by his own account, probably his last.
'Ink' (Netflix) and 'Wild Horse Nine' (Searchlight): These two just premiered over in Venice (see above) and are making the hop to Colorado, jet lag and all.
'Fjord' (Neon): Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve.
Full lineup here. 👈👀
Zero major studios, again. All season the majors have been treating festival launches like your friend who "doesn't really do birthdays anymore," and Telluride's slate keeps that streak going (Focus and Searchlight are as "studio" as it gets this year).
Why it matters: Telluride is where Academy voters actually show up and watch movies, arguably more than at any other festival. Last year it launched 'Hamnet,' which went on to eight Oscar nominations and a Best Actress win for Jessie Buckley. Expect this weekend's word of mouth to set the tone for the next five months.
ICYMI
⚡️ Quick hits…
Inde Navarrette (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images)
🧇 Inde Navarrette is starring in Apple’s Waffle House movie. The ‘Obsession’ breakout leads ‘The Waffle House Index,’ Andrew Nunnelly’s 2025 Black List script about a graveyard-shift worker riding out a storm, with Plan B producing and Louis Paxton directing. Scattered, smothered, covered, packaged.
📽️ ‘The Odyssey’ isn’t leaving IMAX 70mm just yet. IMAX extended its run a second time, through Sept. 30. That’s 11 weeks. IMAX sales hit $457M, topping ‘Avatar’s’ $271M record. The 70mm screens alone have made $66M and only 41 exist. Fast forward: The year is 2052. IMAX extends ‘The Odyssey’ 70mm run yet again.
👹 Neon is going big on Cannes breakout ‘Hope.’ Na Hong-jin’s monster movie opens Sept. 9 in 1,500 U.S. theaters, the widest Korean-language release since ‘Parasite.’ It stars Hoyeon, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender, and Na already has a sequel script. Somewhere, Bong Joon Ho is nodding.
📱 The most credentialed microdrama bet yet is live. aTwist, from ex-Showtime, NBCU, ABC bosses Jana Winograde, Susan Rovner and Lloyd Braun, launched yesterday, aiming to take microdramas mainstream. Titles include ‘My Billionaire Kidney’ and ‘I Swiped Right on a Serial Killer.’ Sounds about right.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Greta Lee and Cooper Hoffman are set to star in Black Bear's 'Jonah,' which marks Danya Taymor's feature directing debut. (more)
‘Get Lite,’ Teyana Taylor's Paramount dance movie, has cast NFL player Ceyair Wright as its male lead, opposite Storm Reid. (more)
Rebecca Ferguson and Greta Lee are starring in MRC's romantic comedy 'Honeymoon / Funeral,' now shooting in London. (more)
TV Development 📺
A live-action Dungeons & Dragons series, 'Ravenloft,' is in the works at Netflix from John August, Alfonso Cuarón, and Hasbro. (more)
Fox has ordered 'Mammoth,' a live-action comedy from 'Modern Family' veterans Christopher Lloyd and Danny Zuker. (more)
Tom Hardy will officially return for S3 of Paramount+ crime drama 'MobLand' following an early renewal. (more)
Other News 🚨
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RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…
🎥 THEATRICAL
By Any Means: Civil rights-era crime thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, directed by Elegance Bratton.
Onslaught: Action-horror from ‘Godzilla x Kong’ director Adam Wingard, starring Adria Arjona and Dan Stevens.
Fall 2: Deadpoint: Survival thriller sequel from the Spierig Brothers.
📺 STREAMING
The Runner: (Prime Video) Action thriller starring Gal Gadot and Damian Lewis, directed by Kevin Macdonald.
The Gentlemen: (Netflix) S2 of Guy Ritchie's crime comedy.
Mayday: (Apple TV) Cold War buddy comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, from the directors of ‘Game Night.’
🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Yep, 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' is going to win again. Six straight weekends at #1 with another $13-18M. 'The Odyssey' ($7-10M) and 'Coyote vs. Acme' ($6-9M) round out the top three on what's basically a holdover weekend. The newcomers aren't much of a factor, with 'By Any Means' looking like a $5-7M debut and the rest landing well below that.
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
That's it from us. Long weekend's yours. Go grill something. See you Tuesday.
—The Dailies Team