👋 Good morning. Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' has left IMAX 70mm, a sentence we weren't sure we'd get to write before 2030. The final showing sold out Wednesday night (of course it did), capping an 11-week run that racked up two extensions, 2 a.m. showtimes, and $33 tickets flipping for hundreds online. IMAX now hands the keys to Tom Cruise's 'Digger,' and the scalpers go back to concert tickets.
Welcome back to The Dailies. Congrats on making it to the weekend, and if you're in LA, it's going to be a hot one. Someone please let the weather know it's October. Grab your coffee and we’ll get you caught up on Hollywood’s latest headlines. 👇
TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…
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 | Unabomber Netflix Pulled 5.1M US views in its opening weekend and 16.4M globally, topping the movie streaming chart across platforms. A chart-topper, but a soft one for a cast like that (Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay, Shailene Woodley). It ranks 12th among Netflix’s 2026 Friday movie debuts. |
 | The Love Hypothesis Prime Video Brought in 4.8M US views in its opening week, a strong debut for Prime Video and its biggest rom-com of the year. That puts it well ahead of last year’s ‘The Map That Leads to You’ (2.3M), though still below the breakout performance of 2024’s ‘The Idea of You’ (7.5M). |
 | A Different World Netflix The sitcom sequel drew 2.8M US season views and 15.6M hours watched, topping the TV chart across platforms this week. Globally it logged 4.2M views in its first 4 days, good for #4 on Netflix’s English TV list. The US is doing the heavy lifting here (it only charted in 15 countries), but it still opened ahead of ‘Tires’ (3.8M) and ‘Survival of the Thickest’ (3.7M), both of which got renewed. |
Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Sep. 24 to Sep. 30. Data provided by Luminate.
CLOSEUP
🏔️ Paramount cleared its last mountain…
Ynon Kreiz (co-CEO) and David Ellison (just CEO) of Paramount-Warner Bros. (Getty Images)
After a year of bids, lawsuits, and 12 attorneys general, the only thing left between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is a calendar. On Wednesday, a federal judge approved the company's settlement with the states that sued to block the $111B merger, and the close is tentatively set for Tuesday, Oct. 6. The exec shuffle (so far):
Minutes after the ruling, David Ellison named outgoing Mattel boss Ynon Kreiz co-CEO. Ellison keeps strategy and creative, Kreiz runs day-to-day operations, and every business reports to both. It's a co-CEO arrangement where only one of them has the "co."
Cindy Holland stepped down as Paramount's streaming chief on Tuesday, leaving HBO boss Casey Bloys poised to run the combined streaming operation.
Ellison has reportedly asked CNN CEO Mark Thompson to stay, though no deal is done (Thompson wants assurances of editorial autonomy).
Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are reportedly on their way out, with Paramount's Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg expected to oversee both studios. Nothing's official yet.
WBD CEO David Zaslav is expected to exit with more than $550M in stock and cash. Quite the parting gift.
Who's Kreiz? A veteran operator with 30+ years in media. He co-founded Fox Kids Europe, ran Endemol, and sold Maker Studios to Disney for $500M before taking over Mattel in 2018. There, he pushed the toymaker into Hollywood with 'Barbie' as the breakout (still Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film ever). Ellison had reportedly been courting him for months.
Looking ahead… Ellison still has to name the company. (The internet has offered "WarnaMount" and "ParaBros" free of charge.) He also has to sort out multiple studios and 50+ cable networks, and the $6B in promised cost savings will likely fall to Kreiz, who earned a cost-cutter reputation at Mattel. The org chart drama is just getting started.
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CLOSEUP
🥊 Neon and A24 are fighting over the same monster…
Indie film's two coolest studios are about to release the same movie (…kind of). Less than three weeks after A24 announced 'V/H/S: SCP,' a horror anthology based on a popular fan-written internet universe, its unofficial archrival, Neon, says it's making one too. Both are due in 2027.
For the uninitiated: that universe is SCP (short for "Secure, Contain, Protect"), a wiki about a secret agency that locks away paranormal anomalies. Thousands of anonymous writers have been adding to it for nearly two decades.
The catch is that nobody owns it outright. Anyone can adapt SCP (even for profit), but whatever they make has to be just as free to copy and share. A24 announced "worldwide rights" to its film anyway, without contacting the wiki's staff, who replied that exclusive rights to an SCP movie can't exist.
Enter Neon, whose approach is basically to do the opposite…
It contacted the wiki's staff before announcing (a bold strategy known as "asking"), and they publicly thanked Neon for its "excellent communication."
It's committed to releasing the film under the same open license, so anyone can legally copy, share, or remix it.
It's handing the segments to emerging filmmakers. (Read: probably a fast, low-budget shoot, which helps when you can't lock up your own movie.)
It's an easy PR win, and a real bet that people will still buy tickets to a movie anyone is legally allowed to post online for free. The bottled water industry suggests it can work.
Meanwhile, A24's indie cred has had a rough year. Already flush with venture money and chasing more mainstream ambitions, the studio has been knocked by fans for signing an AI partnership with Google and sending out a wave of copyright takedowns on 'Backrooms' fan work (A24 called those an error and reversed them). Now add a licensing spat with one of the internet's biggest horror communities.
Looking ahead… Both SCP movies are slated to hit theaters in 2027 (for now, anyway). Neon has committed to the open license. A24 still hasn't said whether it will follow it, or how it plans to release its film if it does. Either way, it’s a duel. High noon at the arthouse.
ICYMI
⚡️ Quick hits…
Co-CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos at the Bloomberg Screentime 2026 conference in LA (Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images)
🍿 Yes, Netflix is warming to theaters, says Ted Sarandos. The co-CEO said at Bloomberg Screentime that Netflix will put films in theaters when it can reach moviegoers without cutting into streaming. The 'KPop Demon Hunters' sequel will get a "very broad" release, joining 'Narnia' and a handful of other films going wide.
🗳️ CA’s candidates for governor went back and forth over Hollywood jobs at Wednesday's debate. Democrat Xavier Becerra said he'll back tax credits if they bring in more than they cost. Republican Steve Hilton, who wants an uncapped credit and less red tape, blamed job losses on Democrats. Election Day is Nov. 3.
🤖 Ben Affleck used AI "for lots of things" in his Netflix thriller 'Animals.' Just don't ask him where, since he'd rather keep the illusion intact. He sees AI as just another filmmaking tool, and he doesn't think anyone will ever type a prompt and get a movie people want to watch. (Netflix did buy his AI company for nearly $600M.)
✍️ Six AI giants signed a White House safety pact this week. Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Nvidia agreed to internal checks and outside audits. It's voluntary with no penalties (President Trump called it "morally binding"), and eagle-eyed readers spotted a typo under Trump’s name: "President of the Unites States."
LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️
Amazon MGM Studios is developing a film adaptation of Garth Ennis’ horror-noir comic 'Freddie the Fix,' with Lawrence Lamont directing. (more)
Walton Goggins is joining Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler in Universal’s 'Miami Vice ’85' in a villainous role. (more)
Chase Infiniti will star in Dylan Clark’s horror film 'Portrait of God,' with Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele producing. (more)
Nicolas Cage and Michael Sheen will lead cyber-thriller 'C.L.A.Y.,' marking Simon Afram’s directorial debut. (more)
Woody Allen will begin shooting his next film in Madrid this month with Marton Csokas and Jemima Kirke among the cast. (more)
Bradley Cooper is enlisting as Duke in Paramount’s new 'G.I. Joe' movie, with Danny McBride directing. (more)
TV Development 📺
Peacock has greenlit a 'Fast & Furious' TV series from executive producer Vin Diesel, targeting a 2028 premiere. (more)
Ariana Madix and Seth MacFarlane are developing 'Future Housewives,' a scripted reality TV satire for Peacock. (more)
Eddie Murphy is attached to star in Peacock drama 'The Chairman,' from 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner. (more)
The team behind 'His & Hers' is reuniting to adapt Alice Feeney’s upcoming thriller 'Twist' as a series. (more)
RELEASE RADAR
📅 This week’s new releases…
🎥 THEATRICAL
Digger: Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon in this dark satire from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, with Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons. (🍅: 52%)
Verity: Colleen Hoover thriller starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett, directed by Michael Showalter. (🍅: 43%)
📺 STREAMING
East of Eden: (Netflix) Florence Pugh leads Zoe Kazan's limited series take on the Steinbeck novel, with Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist.
War: (HBO) Legal drama from 'Lupin' creator George Kay starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, already renewed for S2.
Tyler Perry's Doing Life: (Netflix) Perry's third Netflix film of the year.
Kill Jackie: (AMC+) Assassin thriller starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: It's Cruise vs. Hathaway this weekend, and Hathaway's expected to come out on top. 'Verity' looks like it'll open to $25-30M, with a whole lot of Colleen Hoover fans behind it. Tom Cruise's 'Digger' is looking more like $8-12M, which is a brutal start for a satire that reportedly cost over $100M (the mixed reviews aren't helping).
VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers
MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest viral moments
That’s all we got. Stay cool out there. See you Monday.
—The Dailies Team
1 Source: SPINS, Combined Amazon + Target Sales data, Last 24 weeks ending in January 2026.
2 These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.