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👋 Good morning! The Sphere, Las Vegas’s latest marvel, is raking in some serious dough. In its first full quarter since opening its doors, the Sphere has earned $167.8M in revenue, with a lineup that includes a U2 residency and a film by Darren Aronofsky. Looks like innovative entertainment can be as lucrative as it is breathtaking.

Welcome aboard the Dailies. As you sip your morning brew, we’ll get you caught up with the fast-paced world of Hollywood - no need to chase down a newsstand, we’ve got everything you need right here.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• YouTube TV’s Surge

• Comfort Shows Reign Supreme

• Sports Streaming

• The Rise of Sports-Adjacent Content

• 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!

🚀📺 YouTube TV’s Surge: YouTube TV has zoomed past 8M subscribers, making it the fourth-biggest pay-TV service, CEO Neal Mohan proudly announces in his annual letter. That’s a giant leap from 5M back in 2022, pushing YouTube TV into the spotlight in a world where traditional cable is fading into obscurity. Toss in some NFL Sunday Ticket action, and it’s no wonder everyone’s tuning in. In addition to growing its audience, Mohan explained that YouTube is leaning heavily into AI, promising new AI-powered features for creators in 2024. The platform has reportedly generated $70B in revenue for creators in the last three years, positioning them as the next-generation studios. At the center of Mohan’s ambitious vision is the transformation of the living room into the ultimate entertainment hub, heralding a new era for home viewing.

📺✨ Comfort Shows Reign Supreme: Streaming norms were turned on their head in 2023, as we saw the comforting embrace of familiar TV classics like ‘Suits,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and ‘Gilmore Girls’ dominate Netflix and other platforms, leaving new originals in the dust. Audiences spent a staggering 339.5B minutes watching the top 10 library series, and these old favorites saw a remarkable 41% increase in viewing time compared to the previous year, according to Nielsen. This nostalgia-driven trend emerged as streaming use soared by 21%, highlighting a shift towards series with rich episode counts and deep catalogs. As streaming giants recalibrate their libraries amidst the end of the blank-check era, the allure of familiar narratives proves to be key in captivating audiences worldwide.

🎬🏈 Sports Streaming & the Rise of Sports-Adjacent Content: Big news, sports fans. Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney are teaming up to kick off an all-star streaming service this fall, packing ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports into one mega app. They’re out to reshape the sports viewing experience by offering a vast array of live sports, including NFL, NBA, MLB, and more. The plan is adopt a competitive pricing model that could challenge existing services like YouTube TV.

Meanwhile, other giants like Netflix are executing a savvy sidestep around the staggering costs of live sports rights. Their strategy? To bank on the allure of sports-adjacent content, like shelling out $20M for the ‘Beckham’ doc. Also think ‘Full Swing,’ ‘Drive to Survive,’ ‘Break Point,’ and the list goes on. But as everyone from HBO to Hulu jumps on the bandwagon, many wonder: Is this wave about to crash? Or is this just the beginning of a whole new viewing phenomenon? Interestingly, beyond the crowded US market, there's a hunger for these narratives, particularly in places like Brazil, Spain, and South Korea. This global playbook suggests a vast, untapped field where the love for sports runs deep, but the stories are still waiting to be told.

Development 🗒️

• Apple TV+ ramps up its 2024 slate with 16 scripted and documentary series set to launch from mid-Feb. to mid-June. (more)

• Don Cheadle joins the cast of Peacock's ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.’ (more)

• ‘Cobra Kai’ S6 kicks off production for its final season. (more)

• Neil deGrasse Tyson launches StarTalk channel on Pluto TV. (more)

• David Leitch is in talks to direct a new 'Jurassic World' movie, aiming for a fresh take with a July 2025 release. (more)

• Charles Melton is in negotiations to star in an A24 war film directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. (more)

• Arian Moayed, Este Haim, Lionel Boyce, and Ziwe join Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, and Kaia Gerber in Max Minghella’s thriller 'Shell.’ (more)

• Peacock to premiere ‘Stormy,’ a documentary by Sarah Gibson exploring the life of Stormy Daniels. (more)

• America Ferrera's directorial debut, ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,’ shifts from Netflix to Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures. (more)

• Taylor Sheridan's new Paramount+ drama ‘Landman,’ starring Billy Bob Thornton, has begun production. (more)

• Will Packer Media and Kinetic Content are set to develop Tia Williams' best-selling novel ‘Seven Days in June’ into a series for Amazon Prime Video. (more)

• Paramount secures North American rights to Robbie Williams' musical ‘Better Man’ by Michael Gracey for $25M. (more)

• Miles Teller is set to play Michael Jackson’s attorney John Branca in biopic ‘Michael.’ (more)

• David Laub, formerly of A24, has been named head of Metrograph Pictures, tasked with curating a slate of films for theatrical distribution. (more)

• Kevin Costner teams up with director Ariel Vromen for a passion project, with Costner producing and starring in the film. (more)

• Dave Franco and Alison Brie to star in horror film ‘Together.’ (more)

• Andrew Dice Clay joins Eddie Murphy in Amazon MGM's heist comedy ‘The Pickup.’ (more)

• BBC and BritBox announce ‘Towards Zero’ as their next Agatha Christie adaptation. (more)

• Apple acquires global rights to ‘Fancy Dance,’ a Sundance film starring Lily Gladstone. (more)

• Dave Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson are set to star in ‘Afterburn,’ a futuristic action-adventure based on the Red 5 comic. (more)

✅ Renewed & Cancelled ❌

• ‘Ratched’ is cancelled after S1 at Netflix. (more)

• ‘100 Days to Indy’ is renewed for S2 at CW. (more)

• ‘Dreaming Whilst Black’ is renewed for S2 by BBC and Showtime. (more)

• AMC's ‘The Terror’ anthology series is set to return with its third installment. (more)

Business 🤝

• Prime Video leads Netflix in monthly active users in Japan, but Netflix viewers show higher engagement, amidst a competitive streaming landscape. (more)

• Mubi enhances its international presence by acquiring a majority stake in Cinéart, a leading distributor in the Benelux region. (more)

• Warner Bros. Discovery successfully dismisses a lawsuit alleging inflated subscriber numbers and misleading investor information prior to its merger. (more)

• Jessica Alba launches new production company, Lady Spitfire. (more)

Other News 🚨

• The 2024 Grammys saw a viewership increase to 16.9M, up 34% from last year. (more)

• Gina Carano sues Disney and Lucasfilm for her dismissal from 'The Mandalorian,' with Elon Musk funding the legal battle. (more)

• Byron Allen's $100M lawsuit against McDonald's, accusing the company of not fulfilling a pledge to increase ad spend with Black-owned media, was dismissed by a Los Angeles judge. (more)

• Tucker Carlson announces an interview with Vladimir Putin, marking the Russian president's first American media appearance in three years. (more)

• CNN is relocating its ‘This Morning’ show from New York to Atlanta, requiring the existing 50-person team to reapply for positions within the company. (more)

• Disney launches "VoteDisney" website with a video by Professor Ludwig Von Drake to guide shareholders on voting for the board, advocating against activist investor Nelson Peltz's campaign. (more)