👋 Good morning! Memorial Day weekend’s MVP is turning out to be popcorn kernels. Regal Cinemas reports they sold a whopping 2.9M kilograms of popcorn across their biggest Memorial Day box office weekend ever. That's roughly 6.4M pounds of popcorn, or about the weight of twenty-one blue whales. More on this weekend’s record-breaking box office below.

Happy Memorial Day! From everyone at The Dailies, we honor and remember the brave souls who gave their lives for our freedom. Before you get lost in potato salad prep, we've got your Hollywood update ready. Here's what's on the reel today:

  • Box Office Breakdown

  • Neon Continues Winning Streak — Cannes

  • YouTube’s Emmys Push

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

  • Video Village: The latest trailers

  • Call Sheet: The week ahead

  • Martini Shot 🍸

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
🎟️ ‘Stichin’: Impossible’ breaks holiday records…

Disney’s ‘Lilo & Stitch’

  1. 🏄‍♀️ Lilo & Stitch: 🆕 $145.5M domestic weekend, $183M 4-day total, $341.7M global. Disney's live-action remake absolutely demolishes Memorial Day records, surpassing ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ ($160M) as the biggest Memorial Day opener ever. Gen Z nostalgia is real—30% of audiences were millennials aged 25-34 who grew up with the original.

  2. 🕴️ Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: 🆕 $63M domestic weekend, $77M 4-day total, $204M global. Tom Cruise's "final" mission sets franchise records with the series' best opening ever. At a $400M production budget, it needs to work overtime globally to break even, but strong A- CinemaScore suggests good legs ahead.

  3. 💀 Final Destination: Bloodlines: (Wk 2) $19.7M domestic weekend (-62% drop), $24.5M 4-day, $94.6M domestic total, $187.1M global. Holding firm against tough competition. Already the highest-grossing ‘Final Destination’ film before inflation adjustment.

  4. ⚡ Thunderbolts*: (Wk 4) $9.2M domestic weekend (-45% drop), $11.6M 4-day, $174M domestic total. Marvel’s anti-hero team continues its decent run.

  5. 🧛 Sinners: (Wk 6) $8.8M domestic weekend (-42% drop), $11.2M 4-day, $259M domestic total, $341M global. Ryan Coogler's vampire film keeps churning out solid numbers.

  6. 🤠 The Last Rodeo: 🆕 $5.3M domestic weekend, $6.3M 4-day opening. Angel Studios strikes again with this faith-based bull riding drama starring Neal McDonough. A CinemaScore and $10M budget make this a win for the indie distributor.

  7. 😂 Friendship: (Expanded wide) $4.6M domestic weekend (+228% expansion boost), $5.7M 4-day, $6.6M domestic total. A24's dark comedy is slowly building momentum as it jumped from just 60 theaters last weekend to over 1,000.

  8. 🧱 A Minecraft Movie: (Wk 8) $2.2M domestic weekend (-63% drop), $2.9M 4-day, $420.8M domestic total.

  9. 🔢 The Accountant 2: (Wk 5) $2M domestic weekend (-59% drop), $2.5M 4-day, $62.9M domestic total.

  10. 🎵 Hurry Up Tomorrow: (Wk 2) $740K domestic weekend (-78% drop), $930K 4-day, $4.8M domestic total. The Weeknd's musical drama is, well, hurrying toward streaming.

The Big Picture: Memorial Day weekend just delivered a record-breaking $328M, blowing past 2013's previous high of $314M. Summer's officially kicked off and the theatergoing experience seems to be alive and well.

CLOSEUP
🏆 Neon’s golden streak continues at Cannes…

Jafar Panahi’s film ‘It Was Just an Accident’ wins the Palme d’Or at Cannes. (Source: Getty Images)

Tom Quinn's little distribution house just scored its sixth consecutive Palme d'Or winner, basically turning Cannes into their personal trophy cabinet. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's ‘It Was Just an Accident’ took home the top prize, keeping Neon’s hot streak alive alongside past winners ‘Parasite,’ ‘Anora,’ and ‘Anatomy of a Fall.’ Two of those films went on to claim Best Picture at the Oscars.

This year's haul was particularly impressive: Neon didn't just win the top prize—they dominated the competition. Four out of their five festival acquisitions walked away with hardware, including Grand Prix winner ‘Sentimental Value’ (which they picked up before the festival), Best Actor and Best Director winners for ‘The Secret Agent,’ and a Jury Prize for ‘Sirat.’

Despite a massive power outage on Saturday morning—reportedly caused by sabotaged electrical pylons—the closing ceremony proceeded as planned thanks to the Palais' backup generators.

Other notable winners:

  • Grand Prix: ‘Sentimental Value’ (Joachim Trier)

  • Best Actor: Wagner Moura for ‘The Secret Agent’

  • Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho for ‘The Secret Agent’

  • Best Actress: Nadia Melliti for ‘The Little Sister’

  • Camera d'Or: ‘The President's Cake’ (Iraq's first Cannes award)

What this means for Oscar season: With Cannes increasingly viewed as the unofficial starting line for awards season, Neon just sprinted ahead of everyone else. While ‘It Was Just an Accident’ probably faces submission challenges for the International Film category (Iran is unlikely to submit a film critical of its regime), Neon’s got plenty of other horses in the race.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM LEGION M
The most powerful boardroom in Hollywood…

At most studios, a handful of execs decide what gets made. At Legion M, fans lead the way. We believe the people who buy the tickets and pay the subscriptions know what’s best. We harness “wisdom of the crowd” to make movies like ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ (🍅95% 🍿95%) and ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ (🍅84% 🍿95%). 

Now all we need is you. Ready to make the leap from “movie lover” to “studio owner”? Your seat at the table is waiting. Just be sure to invest before the round ends June 3rd!

Learn More

CLOSEUP
🎬 YouTube has entered its ‘we deserve respect’ era…

Sean Evans (known for ‘Hot Ones’) at YouTube FYC event.

Here's something that might surprise you: YouTube creators have been Emmy-eligible for almost a decade. Back in 2016, the TV Academy changed the rules to give digital platforms a shot at nominations. Some series have scored nods, but none have ever actually won.

Now YouTube is launching its first-ever coordinated Emmy campaign, rolling out the red carpet with For Your Consideration events and backing creators like Sean Evans (‘Hot Ones’), Rhett & Link (‘Good Mythical Morning’), and Michelle Khare (‘Challenge Accepted’) in their quest for actual hardware.

Here’s what YouTube’s really after: YouTube's CPMs (what advertisers pay per 1,000 views) hover around $15, while traditional TV networks and major streamers command $32-$42 for the same eyeballs. Emmy wins could be the golden ticket to closing that gap and proving YouTube content deserves premium ad rates.

Hollywood's a tough crowd, though, and Emmy voters skew older—68% are over 40, with only 51 voters identifying as 18-24 in the last survey. That makes them less likely to know these digital stars, even ones pulling massive audiences.

The bigger picture: The boundaries between Hollywood and YouTube are dissolving. Top creators now employ hundreds of people, build legitimate production studios, and command audiences that rival traditional TV shows. Meanwhile, Netflix and other streamers are courting YouTube stars with big-budget deals, and YouTube is answering with prestige plays like Emmy campaigns. CEO Neal Mohan has been making the rounds in Hollywood, meeting with TV Academy leaders and influential journalists. The company's message is clear: "We will keep doing this until we get there."

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

  • ‘The Idiots,’ a new film about Dostoyevsky and his wife, has added Vicky Krieps and Christian Friedel to its cast. (more)

  • Netflix expands in Argentina with new films ‘Lo dejamos acá,’ ‘El último gigante,’ and Campanella’s ‘Parque Lezama.’ (more)

  • ‘Michael,’ the Michael Jackson biopic, will undergo 22 days of additional photography in June as producers consider splitting it into two films. (more)

Cannes 🇫🇷

  • Neon has picked up North American rights to ‘Sirât’ at Cannes, with a theatrical release planned for later this year. (more)

  • Neon is acquiring North American rights to Natalie Portman’s Cannes-debuted animated film ‘Arco,’ about a boy who time-travels via rainbows. (more)

TV Development 📺

  • Disney+ will become the exclusive streaming home for ‘CoComelon’ in 2027, pulling the preschool hit from Netflix. (more)

  • ‘The Wheel of Time’ is cancelled by Prime Video after S3. (more)

Business 🤝

  • ‘Lipsync,’ the storied UK post house and film investor, has filed for administration, putting 70 jobs at risk amid financial restructuring. (more)

  • A24 is shutting down its documentary division, ending a run that included ‘The Deepest Breath’ and ‘Occupied City’. (more)

Other News 🚨

  • ‘Snow White’ cinematographer Mandy Walker has been elected president of the American Society of Cinematographers. (more)

  • California’s $750M film tax credit expansion hit a snag as lawmakers removed the funding figure from current bill language. (more)

  • A labor dispute on a ‘Based On a True Story’ music video shoot was resolved after Will Smith helped broker a deal between IATSE and producers. (more)

  • Turn any screenplay into an instant table read with realistic voices. (more)*

    *sponsored

CALL SHEET
📅 The week ahead

  • THURSDAY: ATX Television Festival kicks off in Austin

  • SATURDAY: ‘Netflix Tudum 2025’ streams on Netflix

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM LEGION M
Invest in a Rising Star

Think a fan-owned company can’t make it in Hollywood? Think again. In the last few months Legion M released one of 2025’s best-reviewed films, closed a 7-figure international rights deal, and paid out over $1,000,000 in returns to investors in its movies. This could be the start of something special…

Get in before it’s too late – offering ends June 3rd!

MARTINI SHOT
🍸 Latest trends & viral moments

That's a wrap on today’s edition. If you're reading this email because a friend hooked you up, don't fret—just hit that subscribe button and join the party. 📧👇

Enjoy your Memorial Day and see you back here on Wednesday!

-The Dailies Team

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