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👋 Good morning! Somewhere in Los Angeles, an Academy member is seeing daylight for the first time in four days. Oscar ballots closed yesterday, and for the first time, voters had to certify they'd watched every nominee in a category before casting a ballot there. No watch, no vote. For some members that meant a perfectly normal awards season. For a few, it meant a heroic multi-day screening sprint, blinds drawn, phone on silent. Ceremony is March 15. Speaking of which… our Oscar Predictions app is live. Sign up, lock in your picks, and invite friends for a chance to win a year of AMC A-List.
Happy Friday and welcome back to The Dailies. Coffee in hand? Good. Let's get into it.
TOP STREAMED
📊 What U.S. audiences were watching this week…
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| HOW LAST WEEK'S RELEASES ARE STACKING UP… | |
 | Paradise Hulu S2 debuted with three episodes and shot to #1 on Hulu's US chart the next day. In its first week, it brought in 10M U.S. season views per Luminate, up ~127% from S1's debut week (4.4M season views). Shaping up as a genuine franchise for Hulu/Disney. |
 | Love Story FX/Hulu Ryan Murphy's limited series has pulled 25M hours of viewing across Hulu and Disney+ through its first five episodes, a record for an FX limited series, FX says. It's also been building week over week, with the most recent episode up 51% in viewing time over the premiere. |
 | The Bluff Prime Video
The Priyanka Chopra Jonas/Karl Urban pirate actioner pulled 3.5M U.S. views in its first week, the No. 1 movie across all U.S. streaming platforms for the week per Luminate. Not quite in the same league as Prime Video's recent breakout 'The Wrecking Crew,' which opened to 13.5M U.S. views in its first week, but a solid result for Chopra Jonas, who's been hunting for a true Hollywood action hit. |
 | Scrubs ABC/Hulu The revival pulled 11.4M total viewers across linear and streaming in five days per Disney, making it ABC's biggest comedy streaming debut in over a year. |
Sources: Top streamed chart (U.S.) via FlixPatrol; new release viewership data (U.S.) via Luminate.
CLOSEUP
🤖 Netflix just bought Ben Affleck’s AI startup…
Ben Affleck at SiriusXM Studios, New York City. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Last week, Netflix walked away from its WBD bid and pocketed a $2.8B breakup fee from Paramount Skydance. Well, it didn't take long to find something to spend it on: The streamer has acquired InterPositive, an AI filmmaking tools company founded by Ben Affleck. Affleck founded the company in 2022 and kept it quietly under wraps until now. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but Netflix is absorbing the full 16-person team, and Affleck stays in the picture as a senior adviser to the streamer.
So what does InterPositive actually do? The short version: it's not generative AI. The tools don't create content from scratch or respond to text prompts. Instead, InterPositive builds a custom AI model trained on a production's own filmed dailies, then deploys that model in post-production to assist with tasks like color mixing, relighting shots, reframing, wire removal, and visual effects work.
Affleck says he started the company after spending time with early generative AI tools and finding them creatively insufficient. His stated goal: build something purpose-built for how directors and cinematographers actually work, with safeguards designed to keep creative decisions in artists' hands.
Netflix isn't new to this territory. The streamer has been actively experimenting with AI in post-production, most recently using it in final footage for 'The Eternaut' to generate a building collapse scene, and deploying it to de-age characters in 'Happy Gilmore 2.' InterPositive fits into that expanding strategy, though Netflix says it won't sell the technology commercially. Access will be offered to its creative partners only, and the framing from leadership is consistent: this is about producing better work, not cutting costs or replacing crew.
INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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CLOSEUP
🌴 L.A. City Council just made it easier to film in LA…
L.A. City Council passes "Keep Hollywood Home" measures, March 4, 2026. (Photo: Sarah Reingewirtz/Getty Images)
Seven motions passed unanimously at L.A. City Council Wednesday, all part of Councilmember Adrin Nazarian's "Keep Hollywood Home" push to reverse years of runaway production. Local shoots are still well below five-year averages, and this package is the city's most serious attempt yet to change that. This is just the first round. Here's just some of what's in it:
A free micro-shoot permit for productions with 10 or fewer people
Fast-tracked approvals for soundstage and production facility certifications
An independent audit of FilmLA, the city's much-maligned permitting agency
Streamlined permits and standardized notification and monitoring requirements
A "Made in LA" brand initiative to market the city as a filming destination, plus a guided tour of historic film locations
Looking ahead… Local agencies will roll all of this out over the next 180 days, and Nazarian isn't done. A second round of motions targeting bigger structural reforms and new production incentives is already in the pipeline. The competition for these productions is fierce and global, but Wednesday's unanimous vote is a solid sign that L.A. is serious about winning it.
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in Paramount’s adaptation of ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,’ directed by ‘CODA’ filmmaker Siân Heder. (more)
DreamWorks Animation set Troy Quane and Heidi Jo Gilbert to direct ‘The Wild Robot Escapes,’ the sequel to ‘The Wild Robot.’ (more)
Lee Isaac Chung is out as director of Margot Robbie's ‘Ocean's 11’ prequel, parting ways over creative differences. (more)
Jake Gyllenhaal will star in Amazon MGM’s upcoming sports film ‘Play by Play.’ (more)
Vertical has acquired North American rights to Angelina Jolie fashion drama ‘Couture,’ for a theatrical release later this year. (more)
Ben McKenzie crypto documentary ‘Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,’ has been acquired by The Forge for theatrical release. (more)
TV Development 📺
FX has ordered Peter Gould drama ‘Disinherited,’ starring Victoria Pedretti and Kiera Allen, to series. (more)
‘The White Lotus,’ added Vincent Cassel, Corentin Fila, and Nadia Tereszkiewicz to its S4 cast as filming gets underway in France. (more)
Paramount+ has ordered reality dating series ‘Making Love,’ from ‘Love Is Blind,’ producer Kinetic Content. (more)
Lifetime is entering the microdrama space with Taye Diggs-produced series ‘Tides of Temptation.’ (more)
A24 has won a heated auction to adapt Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s crime novel ‘We Are the Dead,’ as a TV series. (more)
Netflix has ordered Alexander the Great drama ‘Alexander,’ from ‘Heated Rivalry,’ creator Jacob Tierney. (more)
Kaley Cuoco has joined Ray Romano and Joshua Jackson in HBO Max drama pilot ‘How To Survive Without Me.’ (more)
Business 🤝
Other News 🚨
Netflix says video podcasts are driving strong daytime, mobile-heavy engagement compared to its film and TV programming. (more)
RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…
🎥 THEATRICAL
Hoppers: Pixar’s animated sci-fi comedy featuring the voices of Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan, and Meryl Streep.
The Bride!: Maggie Gyllenhaal's gothic romance reimagining of ‘Bride of Frankenstein,’ starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale.
📺 STREAMING & LINEAR
Harry Styles: One Night in Manchester: (Netflix) A live concert special featuring Styles performing his new album, streaming Sunday.
Vladimir: (Netflix) A limited series comedy drama adaptation of Julia May Jonas's novel, starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall.
Outlander: (Starz) Final season of the beloved historical fantasy series.
Marshals: (CBS) ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff following Kayce Dutton as a U.S. Marshal in Montana. First in the franchise to debut on a linear network.
🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Original films have been Pixar's Achilles heel in recent years, with several going straight to Disney+ during the pandemic and 'Elio' bombing last summer. 'Hoppers' could be the one to turn things around: it’s projecting a $40-50M opening on strong reviews, which would be its best original debut since 'Coco' in 2017. Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!' also opens this weekend, tracking for a more modest $10-15M.
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
And that's Friday. If someone sent this your way, hit subscribe. We're here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Enjoy the weekend. We'll see you on the other side. 📧👇
-The Dailies Team