Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Stephen Colbert’s bow, Netflix’s rise, and a gap.
Let’s go!
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Upcoming workshop with the President of Bleecker Street (Hard Truths, Logan Lucky, Paterson): https://theindustry.co/p/how-to-sell-your-film
CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which picked up 2 Emmy noms this week, has been cancelled.
There will be no replacement for Colbert. The Late Show, the one which David Letterman originated in 1993, will be gone by May 2026.
There are a few reasons for this. First, the per-season economics:
$100M cost
$15M-$20M salary for Colbert
$60M revenue
$40M loss
The Industry is seeing a major shift in how people receive and consume their media, in real time.
Traditional talk shows like Colbert’s are losing audience (his show averaged 2.4M viewers/episode over the last 8 weeks vs. 3.2M in 2016-2017), that’s a 25% drop. Colbert’s late-night compadres are even lower with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel (1.77M/ep), NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (1.19M/ep), NBC’s Seth Meyers (900K/ep), and Netflix’s attempt at late-night live TV, John Mulaney (≈500K/ep). Meyers also got hit with budget cuts, losing his band last year.
The late-night hosts’ revenue has fallen 50% since 2018 ($439M → $220M).
For More:
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix Q2 2025 net income is $3.13bn (↑46%).
Taika Waititi will direct a Judge Dredd movie.
Basic Instinct reboot: OG writer Joe Eszterhas returns with $4M deal at Amazon MGM’s UA.
An animated Barbie film is in the works from Illumination & Mattel.
Lilo & Stitch hits $1bn.
Paramount+ greenlights NOLA King starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Erin Westerman promoted to President, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
Lawyer Skip Brittenham (client: Harrison Ford) has passed away at 83.
Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) stars in Netflix's Unaccustomed Earth.
Willem Dafoe is likely to join Rob Eggers’ Werwulf.
Arian Moayed reprises Marvel role in Wonder Man.
Above and Below stars Antonio Banderas.
Hair, Paper, Water picked up post-Locarno.
Oscar-nominated docmaker Bing Liu makes his narrative feature debut with Amazon MGM Studios.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Netflix’s monstrous Q2 earnings upset expectations. Here are their gains and losses. And the comparison to Q2 2024:
$3.8bn operating income
↑ 45% operating margin
$3.13bn net income
↑ 46%
$11.08bn revenue
↑ 15.9%
95bn hours, Total viewing
↑ 1%
33% from non-English language projects (viewers are more likely to choose foreign TV over film)
50% from pre-2024
They’ve now upped their yearly revenue growth target by about 2.3%, tracking for between $44.8bn - $45.2bn, and they’re aiming for 17.3% revenue growth of $11.53 bn by Q3.
Internal projections for 2030:
$1 trillion market cap
$30bn operating income (3x 2024)
$78bn revenue (2x 2024)
410M subs (301M in 2024)
$9bn in ad sales (up roughly $8bn from 2024)
Highlights from the earnings interview:
Rollout of the Netflix Ads Suite + New homepage
International expansion: French TF1 Partnership
Gaming expansion: Black Mirror: Thronglets, Squid Game: Unleashed
$1bn investment in NJ soundstage.
One thing missing from Netflix earnings is subscriber numbers. That’s because they’re no longer sharing them.
Their top-performing TV show was Adolescence, which garnered a monstrous 144.8M views since its debut in March. It was the second most-watched piece of content on the platform this year.
Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart: By Netflix's powers combined, they summon Captain Planet!
Netflix is developing a live-action Captain Planet series from Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, and Warner Bros. Television. Ara Hernandez (Mrs. Davis) will write the adaptation of the 1990 animated environmental superhero series. Glenn Powell was attached but has since left the project (I get it, man).
It's a fun little nostalgia grab and very much in the lane of previous Appian Way projects like their Scooby Doo Origin series, also in development. Soon, all of your favorite cartoons will have real-life faces attached to them, which in some ways feels a bit less magical. Anyway… Take it away kids!
Let's get assassinating: After five years in development hell, Netflix's Assassin's Creed live-action series has been greenlit.
Based on the popular video game series following a secret sect of Assassins throughout our history, with a variety of games taking place in Japan, England, Italy, Turkey, revolutionary America, and many others.
This is not the first screen adaptation of AC. A 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender underperformed at the box office.
Netflix teased that their version of the show will “follow its characters across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity’s destiny,” which sounds a lot like an anthology to me. I am torn. The games have become a bit oversaturated at one point, releasing yearly, they definitely follow a formula that has grown tiresome, but the lore is very interesting, mixing real historical events with some weirdly sci-fi elements. It could end up making a killing.
I wonder if they used this teaser in the pitch.
Barbie will always be iconic.
Two years after Greta Gerwig’s live-action film transcended all expectations, Illumination and Mattel Studios are moving forward with a new animated Barbie movie made specifically for theaters.
A number of themed Barbie movies based on specific dolls were sent straight to DVD back in the early 2000s, with this new iteration being the first animated version to be on the big screen.
I am the Law:
Taika Waititi is set to direct a new Judge Dredd movie, with Drew Pearce (The Fall Guy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) writing the script.
The film is already creating a bidding war, described as a franchise-starter with a sharper satirical tone and more faithful world-building. This could be Waititi's sci-fi rebound after finally losing his Akira rights.
Look… Our Flag Means Death was great, and What We Do in the Shadows is a classic, but the man needs to shake off the blight of the often bemoaned Thor: Love and Thunder, which was a sci-fi gone wrong.
The world of Judge Dredd has a grittiness that could possibly keep his more twee sensibilities in check; this could be a great match. Throw the book at him! (Of money).
Don’t cross your legs. Basic Instinct is getting a reboot for Amazon MGM’s United Artists (leader: Scott Stuber). Joe Eszterhas, the original writer, is returning. He stated:
“To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller…my writing partner [is a] TWISTED LITTLE MAN… he was born 29 and he will die 29.”
Enough said. The original was sexy, provocative, and cunning. Sharon Stone (who may return!) gave a hypnotic performance, albeit dark and manipulative (4K trailer).
Eszterhas has a $4M deal to write the script ($2M against $4M). He made $3M for the original back in ‘92 ($32M in today’s dollars).
Tidbits:
The holidays came early for Valhalla Entertainment (The Walking Dead). Gale Anne Hurd’s production company has acquired Yuletide, an upcoming Christmas comic book from Oni Press (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). Being developed into a feature-length film, the story is described as a family adventure with a horrifying holiday twist.
Lionsgate has promoted Erin Westerman to President of Motion Picture Group. Previously the President of Motion Picture Production, in her new role, she will oversee all stages of development and production of the mega company’s theatrical slate. Westerman is currently steering Francis Lawrence’s Stephen King adaptation of The Long Walk, in theaters in September.
Mini Tidbits:
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch has made $1bn. That’s the first US film of 2025 to reach that milestone (remember Ne Zha 2 is at $2bn).
Walk the "blue”carpet: Disney+ + has announced a genuinely good idea, the first-ever live-stream event to celebrate the Premiere of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Set to stream July 21st at 7 pm PT.
Julie DeTraglia, former Netflix VP of Global Ads Measurement, has left the streamer as part of a strategic shift to Netflix’s ad leadership.
Skip Brittenham, a powerhouse lawyer with a golden touch in creating beneficial deals, has died at 83. Clients included Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, and Ridley Scott. He also shepherded deals that launched Pixar and Skydance.
Paramount+ greenlights NOLA King starring Samuel L. Jackson, a spinoff of the Stallone-led Tulsa King.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association elects Scott Orlin as president. He replaces Helen Hoehne, who was ousted two weeks ago. Read more about the mess here.
Longtime CEO Richard Gelfond just had his contract renewed by IMAX through 2028. Joining back in 1993, Gelfond has led the major global entertainment and technology company since 2009.
Television exec Jamie Bennett has passed away at 78 after a battle with cancer. Bennett worked for CBS for over a decade, developing popular syndicated shows like Live with Regis and Kathie Lee and Win, Lose, or Draw. He will be missed.
The US Senate voted to cut Public funding for PBS (prod co: Ken Burns’ The Civil War, Sesame Street). This funding makes up roughly 15% of the PBS budget.
Trailers:
Netflix’s Superstar
Creator: Nacho Vigalondo (dir: Timecrimes, Colossal)
Release: July 18th (today)
Here is our podcast interview with Nacho about his latest film.
Apple TV+’s Platonic (Season 2)
Cast: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne
Release: Aug 6
FX’s Alien: Earth
Release: Aug 12
Netflix’s Fixed
Dir: Genndy Tartakovsky (creator: Dexter’s Lab)
Voice Cast: Adam Devine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn
Hard-R animation trailer
Release: Aug 13
Netflix’s Night Always Comes
Cast: Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Trailer, reminds me of Good Time
Release: Aug 15
Nat Geo’s Limitless: Live Better Now (doc series)
Host: Chris Hemsworth
Release: Aug 15
Disney’s Tron: Ares
Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters
Trailer w/ Jeff Bridges
Release: Oct 10
First look:
Netflix’s Ballad of a Small Player
Dir: Edward Berger (Conclave)
Cast: Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton
First look at Farrell at the tables and another
Theatrical Release: Oct
Streaming release: Oct 29
Release date:
Sony Pictures Classics’ Eleanor the Great
Dir: Scarlett Johansson
Premiere: Cannes
Release: Sept 26
ABC’s 9-1-1 (S9)
Release: Oct. 16
ABC’s High Potential (S2)
Release: Oct. 16
ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (S22)
Release: Oct. 16
Renewals:
Prime’s Invincible (for Season 5)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Freida Pinto (remember her from Slumdog Millionaire) will star in Netflix’s series adaptation of Unaccustomed Earth. Based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories.
Synopsis:
In an affluent Indian-American enclave of Cambridge, a hidden romance resurfaces, sending shockwaves through the close community and testing cultural bonds, loyalties, and long-held traditions.
Pinto plays a devoted wife who rekindles an old flame. There’s something alluring about the way Pinto moves through space. There’s an effervescence and an intensity that’s hard to pin down. Seems on the mark for this project.
Tidbits:
The upcoming adaptation of The Love Hypothesis has found its male lead in Tom Bateman (Murder on the Orient Express). Amazon MGM Studios’ and MRC’s romcom will see Bateman as Dr. Adam Carlsen, a hotshot professor who starts a fake relationship (with Lili Reinhart) to see if their calculated theories on love work out. From director Claire Scanlon (Set It Up), The Love Hypothesis is in pre-production.
David Cross will star and executive produce Lucy Schulman, the debut feature from writer-director Ellie Sachs. Ensemble includes Hasan Minhaj, Thomas Mann, and Sandrine Holt. Cross’s involvement highlights the film’s potential comedic pedigree -clip. Recently wrapped production in NY, UTA will handle worldwide rights.
English actress Sadie Soverall is set to lead the ensemble cast of Prime Video’s upcoming series adaptation of Every Year After, based on a romance novel by Carley Fortune. Soverall is best known for her role as Felix’s (played by Jacob Elordi) not-so-serious girlfriend in Saltburn (2023). With this new series, a nostalgic story of first loves, guaranteed to be much more romantic.
Arian Moayed will reprise his Spider-Man: No Way Home role as Agent Cleary -clip in Marvel’s Wonder Man, debuting on Disney+ in December. Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, the series will explore Hollywood through a superhero lens. Teaser here.
No shocker here. Willem Dafoe will likely join Rob Eggers’ Werwulf along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp. Dafoe was fantastic in Eggers’ previous Nosferatu. But his peak is in Eggers’ The Lighthouse. Focus Features distributes.
Universal and Atomic Monster’s supernatural horror film Other Mommy adds to its cast with The Diplomat’s Adam Silver and Sean Kaufman (The Summer I Turned Pretty). From director Rob Savage (The Boogeyman), the haunted house film’s new additions join Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass (Dying for Sex), and Dichen Lachman (Severance).
Angel Studios’ Young Washington, casts William Franklyn-Miller in the titular role. The film follows the life of a young George Washington. Franklyn-Miller is fresh-faced, dapper, and English. Directed by Angel Studios regular Jon Erwin, who directed Jesus Revolution (2023), which made $53M worldwide.
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