Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Promise, Netflix’s Profit, and a Salamander.
Let’s go!
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Paramount CEO, David Ellison, took to the stage at CinemaCon and made some bold commitments:
45-day theatrical window
90-day window to SVOD (subscription video on demand)
30 movies total from Paramount + Warner Bros./year
Evidence: He upped Paramount’s slate from 8 movies last year to 15 this year
If you take him at face value, it’s all looking sunny. Of course, many in the industry don’t.
The Paramount presentation made another overture to the cinema community, opening with a massive video featuring Tom Cruise, Timothée Chalamet, Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, Teyana Taylor, and Margaret Qualley, directed by Jon M. Chu (Wicked), proclaiming Paramount as the home of cinema.
Ellison is keen on diving into the Paramount treasure chest of golden IP. He name-dropped:
World War Z
Transformers
Star Trek
Paranormal Activity
Plus some other IP in development:
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
Possession
Dir: Parker Finn (Smile)
Call of Duty
Dir: Peter Berg
Releasing: June 30th, 2028
He officially announced:
Top Gun 3
Star: Tom Cruise
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Untitled Damien Chazelle’s film
Star: Daniel Craig
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones
Dir: Siân Heder (CODA)
There was footage from Scary Movie (very funny), and Jackass (gross-out as usual), and a casting announcement that Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie has voice actors Jennifer Hudson and Snoop Dogg with music from the Backstreet Boys.
Angry Birds 3 has voice actors MrBeast, Bill Nye, and Paris Hilton.
Street Fighter (trailer) co-stars David Dastmalchian, Eric Andre, and 50 Cent in the cast. No punches pulled on this one; it’s pure action.
The most impressive things shown:
Mr. Irrelevant
Cast: David Corenswet and Michael Shannon
The film centers on the last man picked for the NFL draft (Corenswet), who goes on a wild mission to prove that he isn’t irrelevant to his coach (Shannon), his team, and ultimately himself. It’s so evocative that Shannon’s final trailer line, “I’ve never learned as much from a player as I’ve learned from you,” hits hard.
Heart of the Beast
Dir: David Ayer
Prod: Damian Chazelle
Star: Brad Pitt
Release 2026
The trailer shows a vet (Pitt) with post-traumatic stress disorder who now lives in a remote wilderness as a means to decompress.
One day while flying a biplane, he crashes into the water which triggers a wild man vs. nature struggle to return home. The core is that he relies on his three-legged dog and the dog relies on him. And they both must keep each other alive. It’s a role that combines the best of both Pitts. His contemplative side (e.g., Ad Astra) and pure action (e.g., Bullet Train).
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
Dir: Ti West
Star: Johnny Depp
Release: Nov 13th
In the trailer shown, Depp becomes Ebenezer, sinking deep into being miserable. He doesn’t overdo it, yet emanates unlikability.
Paramount also showed some clips of a film meant to capture 50% of the Black Panther audience, Children of Blood and Bone (based on the novel). Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a king, Regina King plays a queen. Releasing Jan 15, 2027.
And last but not least, there was Disney.
The first 17 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu were shown. Notably, it featured the return of Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt, on whom the Clone Wars animation feature film was based. He is a face familiar to fans, and people are excited about how a baby Hutt alien was turned into a giant gladiator (played by Jeremy Allen White).
More footage of Toy Story 5 was shown, and they even played the Avengers: Doomsday trailer twice (ensemble includes: X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts*, Black Panther, Channing Tatum, and Chris Evans). Releasing Dec 18th.
But the best thing shown by far was for 20th Century Studios’ Whalefall, produced by Imagine Entertainment and directed by Brian Duffield (Hulu’s No One Will Save You). Austin Abrams gets eaten by a whale. Old Testament style. The clip shown was all underwater, and the tension just ratchets up until there’s a claustrophobia so extreme I felt like I was drowning.
Releasing Oct. 16th.
Other announcements:
Disney’s Hexed
Voice cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Rashida Jones
Release: November 25
20th Century’s The Dog Stars
Dir: Ridley Scott
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin
Release: Aug 28
Pixar’s Gatto
Animated character: Black Cat
Release: March 5th, 2027
20th Century’s Ice Age: Boiling Point (6th film in series)
OG cast returns: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah
Release: Feb 5, 2027
They also had more great footage from Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich as CIA agents aiming to topple the Chilean government, who take a side trip to Easter Island. It’s the best Malkovich has been in years.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix Q1 reports $12.25bn revenue (↑16%), and $5.2bn profit (↑86%).
Former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings steps down.
David Hemingson’s An Unfinished Love Story adaptation lands at Sony.
Sony wins a bidding war for Tom Hanks baseball film The Comebacker.
Warner Bros. lands Matt Reeves’ Iran rescue feature based on NY Times story.
Roku surpasses 100M streaming households worldwide.
Matt Smith stars opposite Imogen Poots in The Salamander Lives Twice.
Visions du Réel spotlights Swiss docs, including Heat.
David Bruckner directs Universal’s Sydney Sweeney thriller The Caretaker.
ITV launches Graham Norton’s new game show The Neighbourhood.
Yesterday’s top answer: Sean Connery, the favorite 007.
49% voted for Connery.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Stepping away from the Warner Bros deal was the best decision Netflix could’ve made, and the proof is in the numbers.
On top of rising international member growth and higher subscription prices, the $2.8bn termination fee paid out by Paramount resulted in a Q1 that outperformed expectations:
$12.25 bn revenue
↑ 16%
$5.2bn profit
↑ 86% ($2.9 bn Q1 2025)
Projections:
$12.57 bn Q2 projected revenue
↑ 13 %
$50.7 bn full-year revenue
vs. $45.18 bn (2025 total)
$3 bn ad revenue by end of 2026
↑ 100% from 2025
Netflix’s biggest Q1 titles:
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Alan Ritchson’s War Machine
Bridgerton (S4)
His & Hers
Compensation for co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters in 2025 dipped to $53M, down from $60.3M.
After nearly three decades at the mega company’s helm, Reed Hastings, the longtime former CEO, is stepping down. His term expires at the end of April, truly marking the end of an incredibly influential era.
An impossible rescue mission.
Warner Bros. lands feature rights to The New York Times story “A Harrowing Race Against Time to Find a Downed U.S. Airman in Iran” after a bidding war between Netflix and Anonymous Content.
Matt Reeves (The Batman) and his production company, 6th & Idaho, are attached to produce.
The film follows the downing of an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet in Iran and how the pilot evaded capture for hours until the CIA executed a complex plan to rescue him. The script will be adapted by Harrison Query (Heads of State).
We are excited to see a Matt Reeves military film. Just check out his great battle between apes and humans sequence in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
Tidbits:
The Holdovers screenwriter David Hemingson’s newest project lands at Sony. An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s is a memoir detailing Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s epic love story with her late husband, simultaneously defining the turbulent decade of the 60s. The film adaptation is a big get for Sony, with Goodwin’s last work, transformed for the screen, inspiring Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012).
A League of Their Own, Moneyball, and now The Comebacker. Sony Pictures has acquired the upcoming Tom Hanks-led baseball film that marks a reunion between the actor and his A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) director Marielle Heller. Billed as a love letter to baseball, Sony won the rights in a four-way studio bidding war.
Mini Tidbits:
Roku
QVC
Rocky at 50
All those mini tidbits and more, here.
Renewals:
NBC’s Law & Order: SVU (for S28)
PBS Masterpiece’s Maigret (for S2)
Cancelations:
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (canceled after S5)
Trailers:
Prime Video’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War
Dir: Andrew Bernstein (Ozark)
Star: John Krasinski
Release: May 20, 2026
Parallel Tales
Dir: Asghar Farhadi (A Separation)
Cast: Isabelle Huppert
Premiere: Cannes Film Festival
French Release: May 14, 2026
Paramount+’s SkyMed S4
Release: May 21, 2026
Release Dates:
CW’s All American S8 (final season)
Cast: Michael Evans Behling, Greta Onieogou
Release: Jul 13, 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Matt Smith has never met a strange role he didn’t want to make weirder.
The Doctor Who actor is joining Imogen Poots (The Chronology of Water) in The Salamander Lives Twice, a left-field mystery headed to the Cannes market with sales rep Embankment Films.
Here’s the synopsis:
Follows a stranger who washes ashore on a remote island with no memory. Taken in by Iris, her daughter Goggy, and their butler Baby, he’s drawn into their decaying world of revenge, family betrayal, and violence.
Much like his House of the Dragon character, which we will finally see on our screen again this June, Smith thrives on unpredictability, balancing an incontestable charm with an enigmatic edge that leaves his intentions constantly in question. A man with no memories, the role gives Smith ample room to play with a shifting sense of self and the kind of offbeat absurdity he does so well.
David Bruckner (The Night House) will write and direct Universal’s The Caretaker, starring Sydney Sweeney. Based on the novel of the same name, the film follows a troubled young woman who takes a caretaking job at an isolated house, only to discover secrets regarding a reality-breaking entity.
This isn’t the first time Sweeney has found herself trapped in a disturbing household. We hope to see the same tense, unhinged performance she delivered as Millie Calloway in The Housemaid (2025), only this time, the force haunting her may not be human.
Michael Bay and Brad Fuller will produce the film.
Casting Tidbits:
Kyle Gallner (Smile)
Joey Pollari
Mean Girls
Disney+’s Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
All those and more here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
At this year’s Visions du Réel, Swiss doc projects are getting a global showcase, reflecting the country’s growing non-fiction scene. Check them out here.
The Directors Guild of America has set next year’s 79th DGA Awards for January 30th, just nine days after the 2027 Oscar nominations are announced.
As anticipation builds for Boulder, Colorado’s first time hosting the Sundance Film Festival, Oscar-nominated producer Paula Dupré Pesmen (Home Alone and Harry Potter franchise) has been hired as the new managing director.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Brady Corbet’s (The Brutalist) will be about the history of the Occult in America. He has been working closely with occultist historian Mitch Horowitz, who famously worked as a historian and commentator on Shudder’s found footage horror film V/H/S/Beyond (2024). While The Brutalist’s runtime was 3 hours and 35 minutes with 165 pages of screenplay to cover, Corbet revealed that his new script goes up to 200 pages.
Mini Tidbits:
XYZ Films exec leaves
Graham Norton’s new show
Ella McCay goes to France
Read all those and more here.
ON THIS DAY
1918. William Holden born in O’Fallon, Illinois.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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