🎬 Show Me The Deal 📋

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Whether you're a seasoned subscriber or a new arrival, we're thrilled to have you here. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, we'll deliver the most important industry scoops directly to your inbox.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Closeup: What Actors Won in the SAG Deal

• New Contracts, Hefty Costs

• Warner Bros. Shelves 'Coyote vs. Acme’

• Katzenberg's Bold Forecast

• Last Looks: 👀 Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, let’s take a look at what happened at the box office this past weekend!

LAST WEEKEND’S
🎟️ BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN 🎟️

1. 🦸‍♂️ The Marvels: Disney's sequel opens with a disappointing $47M, the lowest in MCU history, raising doubts about its final earnings.

2. 🎮 Five Nights at Freddy’s: In its third week, the film drops to $9M, maintaining its status as 2023's top horror with a $127.2M total.

3. 🎤 Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: Slips to third with $5.9M, holding the record as the highest-grossing concert film ever.

4. 🎥 Priscilla: Sofia Coppola's biopic about Elvis's wife dips slightly to $4.7M in its second wide-release week, benefiting from an expanded theater count.

5. 🌼 Killers of the Flower Moon: Falls to fifth with $4.6M in its fourth week, lagging behind previous DiCaprio-Scorsese collaborations, yet aiming for critical acclaim.

6. 📽️ The Holdovers: Expands to sixth place with $3.2M, showing potential despite a limited theater presence.

🧐 Show Me the Deal! 🧐
What Actors Won in the SAG Deal

Last we talked, Hollywood had just ended its 118-day strike as SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP finally shook hands on a new tentative agreement. The union’s national board gave the agreement a thumbs up with an 86% vote in favor this past Friday.

While we’re still waiting on the full details and exact deal terms, SAG’s Nov. 10th memo gives a peek into what we can expect. Let’s take a look:

📈 Wage Increases: The deal kicks off with a 7% wage rise upon ratification, plus extra boosts in 2024 and 2025. That’s a compounded first-year increase of 11.28%.

👥 Background Actors: Background actors will get an immediate 11% wage increase with further increases in 2024 and 2025. The number of covered positions in the West Coast Zones will equal those in the East Coast Zones, adding nearly 11,000 new covered background work days annually.

💰Pension and Health Contribution Caps: Both one-hour and half-hour productions are upping their game with significant contribution cap hikes. This means better pension and health fund contributions and easier benefit coverage qualification.

📺 New Streaming Compensation: The streaming scene gets a makeover with a new compensation stream for performers, adding some oomph to existing residuals and a distribution fund to make “work in streaming more sustainable for middle class actors.”

🤖 Artificial Intelligence Protections: Digital you is now under lock and key! The agreement incorporates informed consent and compensation for the creation and use of digital replicas of members, living and deceased.

🎨 Hair and Makeup Equity and Intimacy Coordinators: The contract addresses hair and makeup equity, diversity stats, gender-neutral lingo, and the arrival of intimacy coordinators.

🎭 Casting Process Improvements: Auditioning gets an upgrade with new rules for materials, self-tape length limits, pay for memorization, and no-no's on nudity in auditions.

🏠 Relocation Allowances for Series Performers: There's a significant increase in relocation allowances, covering up to $5,000 per month for up to six months with no cap on the number of seasons.

So what’s next? 

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 14, SAG’s members will cast their votes to ratify this deal, with the process stretching into early December.

For those craving more insights, the union’s rolling out a series of informational sessions, the first one being today at 10am-1pm PST on Zoom. As always, we’ll keep you updated as new details emerge.

🎬💰 Studios' Balancing Act: New Contracts, Hefty Costs: Moody’s Investor Services predicts a pricey future for Hollywood studios, estimating up to $600M yearly costs due to new guild contracts with SAG and WGA. Despite these rising expenses, don't expect studios to slash their ambitious production plans or budgets dramatically. Instead, they're likely to get crafty with cost-cutting, possibly dialing back on A-list talents, opting for soundstages over exotic locations, and trimming post-production frills. Amidst a seismic shift towards streaming profitability, studios are also eyeing tax breaks and international productions to balance the books. As Hollywood adapts to this new economic landscape, the spotlight turns to improved pay and AI protections for the creative talents, ensuring the show goes on, albeit with a tighter purse.

🎥🚫 Warner Bros. Shelves 'Coyote Vs. Acme’: Speaking of tax breaks, Warner Bros. Discovery, under David Zaslav's leadership, has taken a surprising turn by shelving the $70M 'Coyote vs. Acme' film. Despite its strong test scores, the studio opted instead for a $30M tax write-off. This decision adds 'Coyote vs. Acme' to the list of scrapped projects, including 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob Holiday Haunt,' as part of a strategic shift following mixed financial results. Originally slated for a July 2023 release, the film's cancellation, despite interest from streaming services like Amazon, underscores the studio's new focus on theatrical releases. The move, ironically coinciding with Zaslav's involvement in the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA deal, highlights the studio's careful balancing act between potential box office success and marketing expenditures. Warner Bros. has seen some criticism from creatives following the decision. The film’s director, Dave Green tweeted the following:

🎬🤖 AI's Impact on Animation: Katzenberg's Bold Forecast: Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks and the brain behind Quibi, foresees a drastic shake-up in animation: AI might replace 90% of artist jobs. At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, he reflected on the evolution of storytelling tools, from the pen to the movie camera, suggesting that AI's influence will be monumental. While reminiscing about the days when hundreds of artists spent years on animated films, he predicts that in just three years, a mere 10% of that workforce will be needed, thanks to AI. However, human creativity isn't out of the picture; it'll be pivotal to guiding AI, potentially turning 'prompting' into a coveted creative skill.

Development 🗒️

• Starz greenlights 'Spartacus: House of Ashur,' a sequel to the original series. (more)

• ABC cancels 'The Rookie: Feds' and passes on 'The Good Doctor' spinoff, 'The Good Lawyer.' (more)

• Director Edward Berger's next film 'Conclave,' starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, is acquired by Focus Features for U.S. distribution. (more)

• Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich lead A24's horror film 'Opus.' (more)

• Hulu acquires 'Prom Dates,' a coming-of-age comedy from American High and Kevin Hart's Hartbeat. (more)

• Magnolia Pictures partners with Participant and River Road as the U.S. distributor for the documentary sequel 'Food, Inc. 2.' (more)

• ‘SWAT’ lands a cable syndication deal with WeTV. (more)

Releases 📅

• Netflix announces 'The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep' anime for 2024. (more)

• BET+ announces the return of 'The Black Hamptons' for its second season on Dec. 7. (more)

• Disney announces more changes to its release schedule:

  • 'Deadpool 3' from May 3, ‘24, to Jul. 26, ‘24

  • 'Captain America: Brave New World' from Jul. 26, ‘24, to Feb. 14, ‘25

  • 'Blade' from Feb. 14, ‘25, to Nov. 7, ‘25

  • 'Marvel’s Thunderbolts' from Dec. 20, ‘24, to Jul. 25, ‘25

  • 'Mufasa: The Lion King' from Jul. 5, ‘24 to Dec. 20, ‘24

Awards 🏆

• Check out Deadline’s award season calendar 👉 here. 🗓️

• 'Barbie' receives 11 Grammy nominations. (more)

Business 🤝

• Lionsgate is finalizing negotiations to significantly increase its majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment. (more)

• Chuck James departs CAA to establish Ascend Artist Representation, a new talent management and production company. (more)

• WGAE members are devastated by the shutdown of Jezebel and broader layoffs at G/O Media. (more)

• Vince McMahon is selling nearly a third of his stake in TKO Group Holdings, while CEO Ari Emanuel and other executives express interest in buying shares of the Endeavor-controlled company.(more)

• Scott Metzger leaves CAA to join Untitled Entertainment as a manager. (more)

• AMC Theatres' shareholders vote against a proposed compensation package for CEO Adam Aron. (more)

• Peacock restructures its marketing team, leading to layoffs. (more)

• Netflix trims its feature animation division by one-third, focusing on producing two original tentpole films annually and collaborating with Skydance Animation for future releases. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Following the end of the actors strike, 'The Tonight Show' adds Marvel stars Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson to its lineup. (more)