Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Netflix’s Q4, Prime’s Olympus, and Ron Howard’s Butter.
Let’s go!
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We’re heading to Sundance! If you see us around, say “hi.” If you need a cheat sheet, we have you covered: https://theindustry.co/p/the-sundance-lineup-2026
Netflix had a big day yesterday. It hit massive Q4 numbers and changed its offer to acquire Warner Bros.
Here’s a breakdown of both. Let’s start with the Q4 2025 gains and losses. And the comparison to Q4 2024:
$12.05 bn revenue
↑ 17.6%
$2.42 bn net income
↑ 29%
$2.96 bn operating income
↑ 30%
325M paid subs
↑ from 301.6M - Q4 2024
Nothing seems to be slowing down their domination of the streaming arena.
Netflix sees rising Q4 numbers thanks to its expansive subscriber growth (which they reported for the first time since the end of 2024).
Netflix also owes a big thank you to the final season of Stranger Things, which drove 120M views and 1.248bn hours. Frankenstein has garnered 102M viewers since its release. And we were excited to see their Sundance doc, The Perfect Neighbor, hit 50M views and 81.7M hours.
Of course, in the second half of 2025, KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s biggest title of all time with 482M views.
Netflix has shared that the total viewing hours were 96 billion in the second half of 2025 (+1.5 billion hours YoY).
For 2026, the streamer is predicting:
$50.7bn - $51.7bn revenue (12-14% YoY increase)
$20bn content spend
31.5% operating margin
2x ad revenue (e.g. $3bn)
Price increases
Keep in mind their internal projections for 2030:
$1 trillion market cap
$30bn operating income (2x 2026 projections)
$78bn revenue (51% increase on 2026 projections)
410M subs (up from 325M in 2026)
$9bn in ad sales (up from $1.5bn in 2025 & $3bn projected in 2026)
Those projections look far more attainable if Netflix acquires Warner Bros.
Netflix’s offer has now shifted to an all-cash deal at $27.75/share. That’s an $82.7bn valuation, including debt ($72bn equity value w/o debt).
Though the cash amount can be adjusted based on how net debt is ultimately allocated between the new WBD and the Discovery Global spinoff.
Already, Warner Bros. Discovery is coming out in support of this, through their recent disclosure that their linear TV spinoff Discovery Global is worth between $1.33 - $6.86/share (full details here).
So basically, if it’s worth more than $2.25, then Netflix has made the stronger deal because Paramount wants to buy the full WBD for $30.00/share.
The cherry on top is that Netflix says it's committed to a 45-day window for films. But no word on what they’d do with the films after they’ve played in theaters. If it’s straight to Netflix, that will be problematic for most in the industry.
For More:
Netflix’s full 2025 shareholder breakdown.
Netflix’s full 2026 slate.
Full details on Netflix’s all-cash offer to acquire Warner Bros.
Netflix continues to argue that it has major competitors for leisure time. YouTube is still 41% ahead in the latest Nielsen breakdown of TV Viewing hours for last month.
Netflix will also license roughly 20 shows from Paramount, including Matlock, The King of Queens, and Mayor of Kingstown.
Interestingly, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN is doing quite well, projected to make $1.8bn in 2026.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Imagine Entertainment + Land O’Lakes partner on small-town film/TV portrayals.
Netflix sets Marty, Life is Short, a Martin Short doc.
Prime Video orders an adult animated Lore Olympus adaptation.
McG (Terminator Salvation) will direct 1 ep of Fox’s Baywatch reboot.
Robert Zemeckis signs with CAA.
Léa Seydoux joins A24’s The Masque of the Red Death.
Michael Shannon stars in Ramin Bahrani’s Vegas: A Love Story.
Diarmaid Murtagh (Outlander) lands villain role in DC’s Supergirl.
Kenan Thompson + Kel Mitchell reunite for Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein.
Netflix’s Kennedy series adds Imogen Poots as Gloria Swanson.
Judd Apatow’s untitled comedy adds Madelyn Cline.
Gabrielle Union to lead paranormal psychological thriller Perdita.
Indie Film Company + Shudder acquire Sundance body-horror Saccharine.
Joint Venture acquires U.S. rights to Oscar Hudson’s Straight Circle.
Thelma producers Zoë Worth + Chris Kaye launch Bandwagon prod co.
Utopia hires Greg Lauritano to expand Originals.
Atlas promotes Robert Amidon and Elise Callas.
Pathé UK hires Claudia Yusef as Creative Director of Film.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Imagine Entertainment and Land O’Lakes (yeah, the butter company) have partnered on the Modern Rural Collective, aiming to provide filmmakers a research toolkit to counter outdated rural stereotypes and “promote nuanced, contemporary portrayals of small town America” across film and television projects nationwide. It seems odd, but Imagine recently made Hillbilly Elegy.
Rohm Feifer Entertainment is taking on a love story turned stalker nightmare Murder Your Darlings, a suspense novel from bestselling author Jenna Blum that was published earlier this month. Pacific Standard Productions, the company behind one of the greatest book-to-movie adaptations, Gone Girl (2014), and HBO’s Big Little Lies, would be perfect for a Murder Your Darlings, an unpredictable story told by an unreliable female protagonist. Screenwriter Barbara Nance (Disturbing Behavior) will pen the adaptation.
Mini Tidbits:
Netflix will premiere Marty, Life is Short, a documentary tracing Martin Short’s career with rare footage and interviews directed by Lawrence Kasdan (Dir: The Big Chill). Premiering May 12.
Alan Chikin Chow, the YouTube Shorts juggernaut behind Alan’s Universe, is developing a scripted K-pop–set series for Netflix. The move underscores Netflix’s push to work with top YouTube creators.
Prime Video has ordered an adult animated adaptation of Rachel Smythe’s hit web comic Lore Olympus from Webtoon Productions and The Jim Henson Company.
McG, the director behind Terminator Salvation (2009), is tapped to direct the first episode of Fox’s Baywatch reboot. He will also EP the series and has signed off on a development deal with Fox Entertainment.
Robert Zemeckis signed with CAA. His prod co, ImageMovers, is also moving from WME to CAA.
Longtime legal affairs exec Paul B. Stager Jr. has died at 96. He spent decades at major studios like Warner Bros. Television, joining back in 1999 as SVP of Legal Affairs and Administration.
Trailers:
Apple TV+’s The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Release: February 20, 2026
Gaslit (Doc)
Jane Fonda producing
Release: February 5 2026
Abramorama’s 2Die4
Release: January 30, 2026
The Network’s Let’s Be Frank
Release: Now streaming
Nadja
Cast: Elina Löwensohn
Release: February 6, 2026
First Look:
Netflix Poland’s The Doll
Release: 2026
Operation Taco Gary’s
Cast: Not announced
Release: 2026
Release Date:
Laika’s Wildwood (animated)
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali
Release: April 24, 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Léa Seydoux is crashing one of literature’s most notorious parties in A24’s The Masque of the Red Death.
Starring a pretty acclaimed duo, the Palme d’Or winner (Blue Is the Warmest Color) will share the screen alongside Oscar winner Mikey Madison (Anora) in the anticipated darkly comedic take on Edgar Allan Poe’s feverish 1842 short story of the same name (4-page story here).
A haunting allegory of denial, the tale follows an extravagant masquerade that’s meant to lock out a ravaging plague littering the outside world, until the celebration takes a deadly turn no one saw coming.
Seydoux will play a cold and calculating lady in waiting, echoing the same type of composed, enigmatic energy of her double film Bond girl role, Madeleine Swann.
From director Charlie Polinger (IFC’s The Plague), shooting is slated to begin in Budapest this February.
Michael Shannon is always great in a Ramin Bahrani (dir: 99 Homes) film. Their newest collab is Vegas: A Love Story.
The full cast is great:
Shannon
Maika Monroe
Brandon Sklenar
Paul Dano
Judy Greer
Synopsis:
Follows Dillon, a graphic designer living out of her car, who falls for Freddy, a welder and single father. When her ex Ryder returns, he threatens to unravel their romance while Freddy’s in-laws try to protect their grandson.
Bahrani loves these stories of the unhoused. And in his previous film, 99 Homes (trailer), Shannon played a disseminator of justice, a real estate agent who was in charge of evicting people from their properties.
Released the same year as The Big Short (2015), 99 Homes plays as the indie version. Sadly, it got eclipsed, and Shannon never got his due.
Hopefully, he fares better in Vegas: A Love Story. WME is selling worldwide rights.
Irish actor Diarmaid Murtagh (Outlander) has landed a key villain role in DC’s upcoming Supergirl. Murtagh will play Drom Baxton, the second-in-command of a brutal gang known as The Brigands, ruthless space pirates and human traffickers who serve as the film’s primary antagonists. The group is led by Krem of the Yellow Hills, portrayed by Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone).
If he’s anything like in the comics, then we are in for some heartbreak. Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya), the film is based on Tom King’s 2022 comic series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and will follow Supergirl, aka Kara, as she helps an alien girl get revenge, while maybe seeking a bit of her own. Supergirl is scheduled to hit theaters in the United States on June 26, 2026. Teaser here.
Tidbits:
Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell are reuniting as stars and producers on Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein, a horror comedy set to shoot this summer. It’s a fun little jaunt inspired by classics like Abbott and Costello monster movies. The film follows two delivery drivers who stumble into a creepy castle and accidentally awaken Frankenstein’s monster. The project marks the duo’s first new collaboration since Good Burger 2 and leans oh so heavily into nostalgia. I imagine we might see this next Halloween.
Netflix’s anticipated Kennedy series has added Imogen Poots (The Chronology of Water) to its cast as iconic film star Gloria Swanson, joining Michael Fassbender in the titular role for the political dynasty drama. Poots is pretty perfectly cast as her natural expressive intensity on screen makes her a compelling match to the commanding Swanson. The eight-episode series charts the Kennedys’ rise, with filming ongoing.
Judd Apatow’s untitled comedy adds Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline to join headliner Glen Powell. The Universal picture follows a country-western star who is on the decline, with Cline playing a popstar (maybe similar to her Whiskey character in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story, clip). The film is set for an early 2027 premiere.
Joey King is in talks to star in the titular role in Bambo, an ’80s-set drama written and directed by Natasha Lyonne. The film follows a stubborn boxing promoter who drags his daughter into a chaotic quest to become the next great promoter. It marks King’s most substantial lead role since Hulu’s The Act (2019), following a run of Netflix fare including Uglies (2024) and The Family Affair (2024).
Mini Tidbits:
Paranormal psychological thriller Perdita is set to be led by Gabrielle Union (Riff Raff). Inspired by Henry James’ 1868 short story The Romance of Certain Old Clothes, Union plays Pearl, a loner park ranger whose life unravels after a supernatural encounter. Production will begin this spring in Ontario, Canada.
Sam Heughan (Outlander) joins Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmons in the six-part geopolitical thriller Embassy. It follows a fictionalised mercenary siege in the U.S. Embassy in London.
Game of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen taps into his crime boss menace in new British drama Driver. He’ll star opposite Deadpool & Wolverine’s Dafne Keen in the London-set gritty romance feature that explores the intersections of crime and desire in the city’s after-hours.
Jason Schmidt (Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies) joins Angelina Jolie, Charlie Plummer, and Cliff “Method Man” Smith in Sunny, a dark thriller from Eva Sørhaug about a female gangster racing to save her sons from an abusive drug kingpin.
WNBA all-star Angel Reese is taking a break from the court and giving acting a try, set to star in season two of Netflix’s The Hunting Wives. Her recurring character is named Trainer Barbie, and the second season is currently in production.
FESTIVALS
Berlin Competition films 2026. There are some wild ones. Like a horror starring Rupert Grint. And films with Juliette Binoche, Amy Adams, and Callum Turner.
Here’s our breakdown:
https://theindustry.co/p/berlin-2026-official-selection
Plus, many of the films have been picked up by sales reps, which has been included.
Festival trailers:
Rotterdam’s Yellow Cake
Trailer - sci-fi + stark comedy
Berlin’s Ghost in the Cell (Forum)
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Independent Film Company and Shudder have acquired Natalie Erika James’ supernatural body horror Saccharine from XYZ Films ahead of its Sundance premiere.
The film follows a lovelorn medical student haunted after joining an extreme weight loss craze involving human ashes.
The stars are Midori Francis (Grey’s Anatomy), Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$), and Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time).
Written and directed by James, it is her third feature after Relic and Apartment 7A. The deal covers North America and the UK, with a 2026 theatrical release planned ahead of its Shudder debut.
Joint Venture has acquired U.S. rights to Oscar Hudson’s debut, Straight Circle. Hudson is best known as the director of the Apple “Bounce” commercial…
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