Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Margot Robbie’s Heights, Disney’s Depths, and a Cage + Woo re-team.
Let’s go!
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Fifty Shades of Wuthering Heights?
Underscored by Charli XCX’s electric new song, “Chains of Love,” Warner Bros.’ sensual new trailer for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights has everything the director is known for: sex, obsession, and jealousy.
In a reunion with Fennell, Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) plays the tormented orphan Heathcliff opposite the spirited but impulsive Catherine, portrayed by Margot Robbie.
It’s one of literature’s most toxic couples.
Based on Emily Brontë’s classic 18th-century-set novel, the trailer begins with mist-shrouded Yorkshire moors, fleeting close-ups of wind-whipped hair, and erotic moonlit romance. It gives a longer look at the forbidden lovers’ dialogue, showcasing the power struggle and the blurred lines that make every word feel half-threat, half-confession.
Beyond just the suggestive imagery, Fennell’s take feels distinctly modern, projecting more 1980s than 18th century. And what could be more modern than Charli XCX? The BRAT singer’s pulsating score perfectly matches the trailer’s turbulent, ferocious energy.
Like Charli, Fennell’s direction is highly stylized, and in both Saltburn and her Best Picture-nominated Promising Young Woman (2020), the director’s distinct lens can often come at the expense of narrative depth. But with a source material as rich as Wuthering Heights, she should have ample room to add her aesthetic.
Her ability to blend both beauty and psychological intensity is on full display in the new trailer. Voyeuristic camera work with opulent imagery. Eroticism, driving both the characters and the plot, where desire feels as elemental as the moors themselves. This suggests a version of Wuthering Heights as visually sumptuous as it is erotically fraught.
The question becomes, though, how far will she go?
Wuthering Heights is slated for a Valentine’s Day 2026 premiere.
For more:
Check out the spicy teaser trailer. Or the new trailer.
Fennell’s last feature, the polarizing Saltburn (2023, trailer)
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Disney posts $10.2B entertainment revenue (↓6%), $691M profit (↓35%), and $352M streaming profit (↑39%).
Starz posts $320.9M revenue (↓8%) and a $52.6M net loss (↓72%).
Lena Dunham develops Netflix series The Elissas, a post-9/11 suburban coming-of-age drama.
Prime Video is developing The Boys from Biloxi series with Patrick Macmanus.
Gavin O’Connor (dir: The Accountant) teams with Apple on new feature Running.
Fifth Season secures $500M credit facility for its expanding slate.
CBS orders untitled Jared Padalecki medical drama set in rural Texas.
HBO debuts ALEX vs AROD, a doc on Rodriguez’s scandal and suspension.
Nic Cage reteams with John Woo for Gambino mafia biopic.
Florian Zeller casts Patrick Schwarzenegger in Bunker opposite Javier Bardem.
Shirley MacLaine & Ansel Elgort board road trip comedy Lucy Boomer.
AFM projects: Hour of Reckoning (Kiefer Sutherland) and Peaches (Sophie Thatcher), which sold to IFC.
Sundance winner André Is an Idiot lands a 2026 release from Joint Venture.
Neon takes US/UK/AU rights for Sheep in the Box from the director of Shoplifters.
Vertical nabs US rights on The Cure.
Mubi picks up LATAM rights to Peter Hujar’s Day.
SNL UK sets producing team.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Disney released their Q4 2025 results. Here’s the breakdown plus the change from last year:
$10.2bn entertainment revenue (Disney+, Hulu + Linear)
↓ 6%
$691M entertainment operating profit
↓ 35%
$2.06bn Linear revenue (ABC, FX, Nat Geo)
↓16%
$391M Linear profit
↓21%
131.7M Disney+ subs
↑3.8M from Q3 2025
45% US (59.3M - up 1.5M from last quarter)
55% International (72.4M)
59.7M subs - Hulu (not including live TV)
↑17% - 8.6M from Q3 2025
$352M streaming profit (not including sports)
↑ 39%
This is the big win for Disney, aided by price increases
On par with Warner Bros. Discovery’s $345M in streaming profit
$52M loss - Content Sales/Licensing and Other (e.g., Theatrical + TV Licensing)
Down from $316M gain last year
Disney is making some big investments, with CEO Bob Iger stating:
“We expect to invest approximately $24 billion in content across Entertainment and Sports in fiscal 2026, an increase of $1 billion compared to the prior year, as we continue to invest in high quality sports rights at ESPN, new and existing franchises at our film studio, and television content;”
Disney is also getting into the AI game, stating:
“There’s phenomenal opportunities to deploy AI… also to give consumers the opportunity to create on our platforms.”
They will keep fighting AI copying their IP (they’re suing Midjourney), but:
“Also to seek opportunities for us to use their technology to create more engagement with consumers.”
So soon, you may be able to create your own Disney characters right on their platform. Hurray…. At least they have a killer slate of real non-AI films coming out like Avatar: Fire and Ash, Toy Story 5, and Avengers: Doomsday.
Starz Q3 2025 earnings. Their second quarter since the split with Lionsgate:
$320.9M revenue
↓8%
$221M streaming revenue
↓5.7%
$52.6M net loss
↓72% Down from $30.6M loss last year
17.5M North American subs
↓ 1.6M (total subs) from last quarter
↓130K (US subs) from last quarter
Starz ended Q2 with $588.1M net debt. Starz is now working to deliver a larger number of shows it fully owns, targeting 50% of its slate.
Tidbits:
Girls’ Lena Dunham is back with Netflix for a new in-development series with Sleepy Hollow producer Heather Regnier. The series is inspired by Samantha Leach’s book The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia, a post 9/11, high school set story of friendship and self-destruction. The project aligns naturally with Dunham’s work, as she’s long gravitated toward intimate, female-driven stories about adolescence, identity, and the messy edges of coming of age.
It’s WSJ official. Comcast and Netflix (and of course Paramount) will submit bids to buy Warner Bros. Discovery ahead of a November 20th “non-binding first round” auction deadline. WBD is hoping to close this sale out by the end of the year. Of course, pending regulatory approval. CEO David Zaslav’s compensation package would stay the same (full details here) under any acquisition scenario.
John Grisham fans look out! Prime Video is developing a series adaptation of his 2022 bestseller The Boys from Biloxi. This news comes not long after the August Peacock premiere of USA Network’s take on his novel, The Rainmaker, as well as the upcoming Jason Bateman-directed feature adaptation of The Partner with Universal. The Boys From Biloxi series is in early stages of development with Patrick Macmanus (co-creator Hulu’s The Girl From Plainville) writing and showrunning.
Gavin O’Connor (Dir: The Accountant 1 & 2) is developing Running for Apple Original Films. The drama, written by Bill Dubuque (The Accountant), follows a prodigy runner trying to escape his past. O’Connor’s sequel became Amazon MGM’s second most-watched film after earning $103M worldwide. It’s no wonder that Apple is betting on him for this exciting-sounding film.
HBO’s new documentary ALEX vs AROD will explore disgraced baseball player Alex Rodriguez confronting his most painful chapter, from his HGH scandal to his 162-game suspension. Directors Gotham Chopra (Man in the Arena) and Erik LeDrew (The Greatness Code) explore his rise, fall, and family life, examining the split between Alex and his persona as Arod. Now streaming on HBO.
Mini Tidbits:
Fifth Season, the prod co behind Severance, has closed $500M over 5 years from J.P. Morgan. The money is a credit facility that will allow them to draw on as needed for their burgeoning slate. In 2025 alone, they had 7 films and 10 series.
CBS is joining the medical drama wave with a new untitled series starring Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki. The show follows a headstrong doctor (Padalecki) who brings along his young protégé in a mobile clinic, healing underserved communities all throughout the deserts of Texas.
Renewals/Acquisitions:
Netflix’s Old Money (renewed for S2)
HBO Max picks up all 7 seasons of Mad Men from AMC
4K streaming release date: Dec 1
Cancellations:
Peacock’s Poker Face (cancelled after S2)
Natasha Lyonne exits as star, stays on as EP
Peter Dinklage replaces her as the lead
Creator Rian Johnson is shopping series
Trailers:
Prime’s Fallout (S2)
Release: Dec 17
Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (S2)
Release: Feb 27
Disney+’s The End of an Era
Release: Dec 12
Disney’s Holiday Short: Best Christmas Ever
Dir: Taika Waititi
Trillion
EP: Joaquin Phoenix
Dir: Victor Kossakovsky (A24’s Architecton)
Trailer - very Sisyphean
First look:
Universal’s The Odyssey
Dir: Christopher Nolan
Fun Fact: Two million feet of film were shot (for comparison, The Shining famously had 1.3M)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Nic Cage and John Woo’s 30-year reunion. Nicolas Cage reunites with director John Woo (dir: Mission: Impossible 2) for Gambino, a crime biopic about NYC mob boss Carlo Gambino.
Written by George Gallo (Bad Boys) and Oscar-winning Nick Vallelonga (Green Book), the film follows journalist Jimmy Breslin investigating Gambino’s legacy through flashbacks.
Last time these two went together, we got Face/Off (clip), still heralded as one of Cage’s most cagey performances, but we have to admit Nic Cage as a famous New York Mob boss has a lot of promise through the hyper-focused lens of John Woo.
Will Patrick Schwarzenegger play a billionaire? That’s the million-dollar question in Bunker, the latest film by Florian Zeller (dir: The Father starring Anthony Hopkins).
Zeller wrote the film for Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, who play a married couple. In the film, we know Bardem will play an architect tasked with building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire (Schwarzenegger?).
If this pans out, it would be a great fit. Schwarzenegger has an ability to be ultra alpha in a way that loses self-awareness (see White Lotus S3), but scratch beneath the surface, and there’s a bunch of depth.
Father Joe, the 90s-set action film produced by Luc Besson (dir. The Fifth Element), adds to its cast during AFM.
Michael Rispoli (Nonnas)
Fred Melamed (Barry)
Erik Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
They join heavy hitters Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino, with all characters being kept under wraps.
Chaotic road-trip comedy, Lucy Boomer, pairs Hollywood royalty Shirley MacLaine (Steel Magnolias) with 2010s breakout star Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver). It’s an odd matchup on paper, but the premise brings them together:
Elgort plays a down-and-out writer who thinks he’s landed his big break when former U.S. Secretary Lucy Boomer (MacLaine) agrees to let him interview her.
Filming is expected to start in February 2026.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Doc NYC launched this week with 200 features and shorts.
The festival has a pretty good track record of predicting what will be nominated for the Oscars. Last year, they programmed all 10 docs that became Oscar-nominated across the Doc Features and Doc Shorts categories.
At the opening afternoon ceremony, which boasted Richard Gere, Derek Cianfrance, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin from Sing Sing, and Raoul Peck, Doc NYC awarded a series of “visionaries tributes.”
Lifetime achievement award recipients Joe Brewster and Michelle Stevenson (Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project) stated:
“Storytelling and film are not luxuries, they are part of our birthright, they are as necessary as the air we breathe and the soil… we must reclaim storytelling and craft build an ecosystem not rooted in profit but in purpose.”
The festival runs through November 30th. More info here.
AFM latest batch:
Peaches
Cast: Sophie Thatcher & Havana Rose Liu
EP: Cate Blanchett
International Sales Rep: mk2
North American rights were picked up by Independent Film Company.
Hour of Reckoning
Dir: Vaughn Stein (Terminal)
Wri: Chuck Hustmyre (Disturbing the Peace)
Star: Kiefer Sutherland (Designated Survivor)
Prod. Company: Thunder Road Pictures (John Wick)
Sales Rep: Concourse Media (Sovereign)
Synopsis:
When a retired lawman returns to his dying hometown to investigate his brother’s mysterious death, he uncovers a brutal criminal empire led by a charismatic psychopath who rules through fear and corruption. As he digs deeper into a web of drug and human trafficking, his pursuit of truth ignites a violent war for justice - pitting one man’s code against an entire town.
Rose’s Baby
Dir: Trudie Styler (prod. Moon)
Wri: Camille Griffin (Silent Night)
Star(s): Richard E. Grant (Nuremberg) and Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zorro)
Prod. Company: Maven Screen Media (Prime’s The Burial)
Sales Rep: Beta Cinema (Cannes’ Amrum)
Synopsis:
When a divorced couple’s daughter falls ill, doctors tell her parents the only cure is for them to have another child who could save their sister.
Killing Of a Nation
Dir: Carlos Bolado (La Reina del Sur)
Wri: Jimena Gallardo (Netflix’s Ingobernable)
Star(s): Aml Ameen (Rustin) and Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes)
Prod. Company: Crooked Highways
Sales Rep: Myriad Pictures (Bob Trevino Likes It)
Synopsis:
Anderson Toussaint, an American lobbyist in Haiti, gains access to President Moïse’s inner circle, uncovering corruption. Amidst political turmoil, Moïse is assassinated, plunging Haiti into chaos.
The Spiritual Advisor (doc. short)
Dir: Joel Fendelman (Remittance, Man on Fire)
Prod: James Chase Sanchez (doc. Man on Fire)
Dist: Documentary+ (short. Ninety-Five Senses)
Sales Rep: Rolling Stone Films (Little Richard: I Am Everything)
Synopsis:
Follows priest and activist Rev. Jeff Hood as he counsels death-row inmates.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
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