Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Peacock, IMAX and Ramayana.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Peacock reports $189M in profit and $1.9bn in revenue.
IMAX is up for the quarter with $103M in revenue and $15.9M in net income.
Universal secures the rights to develop Atari games into feature films.
Rebelle Media and MGM Television acquire Sarah Adams’ When in Rome series.
A judge extends the order blocking the PSKY WBD merger through August 18.
Los Angeles on-location production falls 12.7% in Q2.
Apple TV orders its first dating series.
Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Laura Linney join rom-com The Joy of Sex.
Zosia Mamet joins the fifth and final season of HBO’s Industry.
Rick Kumazawa joins Season 2 of FX’s Shōgun.
TIFF unveils the lineup for its Primetime Program.
Bleecker Street acquires concert film George Michael: The Faith Tour.
Sony acquires global rights to Indian epic Ramayana.
Yesterday’s correct answer: 6x Tony Scott/Jerry Bruckheimer films.
74% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Comcast’s Peacock Q2 2026. Here are the stats for the NBCUniversal streamer, plus the difference from last year:
$1.9bn revenue
↑ 58%
48M subs (↑ 2M).
Good result after three straight quarters of additions
$189M profit
↑ from $101M in losses last year
First-ever profitable quarter
Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh hedged his bets, stating that profitability had to be judged yearly:
“Managing event-driven churn effectively by bringing users in around major moments and keeping them engaged with the broader content slate.”
E.g., much of the gains are due to FIFA World Cup, NBA Playoffs and Love Island.
The media unit of Peacock’s parent company, Comcast, had a profit of $708M (↑3.7%) and $5.7bn revenue (↑25.3%).
NBCU’s movie and TV studio had $3.04bn in rev (↑ 25%) and $972M theatrical revenue (↑242%). Profit is up 3x to $202M.
This is due to the breakout success of Michael, which they distributed internationally, as well as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($1.01bn WW) and Obsession ($443.7M WW).
Here are the full Q2 2026 financials.
IMAX Q2 2026. We broke down their numbers and how they stacked up against last year:
$285M global box office
↑1% overall
↑24% internationally
$103M revenue
↑12%
$15.9M Net Income
↑30%
The top earners:
$69M, Michael
$42M, The Mandalorian & Grogu
Look, this may get blown out of the water by next quarter as The Odyssey earned $52M in its opening weekend for IMAX; that’s their most ever for a title. We’ll see if that comes close to last year’s top earner, the Chinese film Ne Zha 2, which earned IMAX $190M.
Welcome back to the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games. American Video Gaming company Atari signs a deal with Universal Pictures, giving the studio the right to develop Atari video game IP into feature films. The iconic game properties include Asteroids, Berzerk, Centipede, and Crystal Castles. Longtime Universal exec Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe (Prod: Hellboy) will write the first screenplay from one of the IPs.
Atari was a pioneer in the commercial video game space in the 70s, even controlling 80% of the market with their iconic Atari 2600 home console. We can surely expect an action-adventure film where Atari’s biggest gaming IPs appear as characters and obstacles for the main characters to overcome.
There’s already a really good example of blending nostalgic IP into a single film – Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One (2018) successfully incorporated iconic characters and settings from films like The Shining (1980) and Mobile Suit Gundam into its story.
Maybe we’ll be able to see our main characters sucked into the world of 8-bit games where they must survive through arcades’ most iconic games.
Hollywood’s production comeback is proving slower than hoped. According to FilmLA’s latest report, on-site production in LA dipped slightly in Q2:
4,711 total on-location production days for Q2
↓ 12.7% (5,394 SD in Q2 2025)
Television
1,607 shoot days
↑ 34% (1,196 SD in Q1 2026)
Feature Films
443 shoot days
↓ 19% (553 SD in Q2 2025)
As of right now, 170 projects have been awarded tax credits through the California Film & Tax Credit Program. The new report echoes LA’s “new normal”, a smaller industry that is more heavily supported with state incentives.
Full details here.
EEAAO filmmakers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan’s next sci-fi movie gets a confusing new insight from the film’s lead, Matt Damon.
He said:
“The way they pitched it to me was: if The Breakfast Club meets Inception meets an anime film meets an episode of The John Oliver Show that never aired.”
The untitled Universal film will hit theaters Nov. 19, 2027.
Tidbits:
A judge has ordered an additional 2-week temporary restraining order blocking the merging of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. That means the deal cannot close before August 18th. During this time, the court will review the antitrust lawsuit brought by 12 state AGs. Full details here.
Apple TV is making its first dating series, The Last Person on Earth with Esther Perel (Podcast: Where Should We Begin?) as host. In the show, Perel and her team will bring together couples who appear to be complete opposites and send them to one of the world’s most romantic destinations.
Sarah Adams’ bestselling When in Rome romance series is headed to television. Rebelle Media (Hulu’s Tell Me Lies) and MGM Television have secured the adaptation rights, set in Rome, Kentucky. Plot: “Princess of pop” Amelia Rose spontaneously decides to take a vacation to the small city in Kentucky (sort of) inspired by her favorite film, Roman Holiday.
Jeff VanderMeer’s strange worlds are expanding. The Annihilation author’s upcoming four-part book series Strange Architect has been acquired by an American publishing company, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG), in a seven-figure deal. The uncanny mystery series will follow Arthur Bream, a man whose dreams were destroyed when his daughter suddenly went missing, who still spends his remaining years attempting to contact the spirit realm where he believes his daughter is trapped.
Renewal:
Netflix’s Beauty in Black (Renewed for Season 4)
Cancellation:
Apple TV’s The Morning Show (Canceled after Season 5)
Trailers:
Sony Pictures’ Resident Evil
Dir: Zach Cregger
Cast: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry
Release: Sept 18
Paramount’s Ebenezer
Cast: Johnny Depp, Ian McKellen, Rupert Grint
Release: Nov 13
Netflix’s Tires S3
Cast: Shane Gillis, Steve Gerben
Release: Aug 13
Erotic Drama Brave New Love
Locarno Premiere: Aug
US Release: TBD
Scottish Ballet’s These Violent Delights
Edinburgh Premiere: Aug 14
Ketchup Entertainment’s Coyote vs. ACME
Cast: Will Forte
Release: Aug 28
Paramount+’s Avatar: Seven Havens
Release: Oct 9
Release Dates:
A24’s Primetime
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Phoebe Bridgers
Release: Sept 25
Damai Entertainment’s Dear You
Chinese Release: April 30
Chinese Box Office: $290M
Well Go USA acquired US rights, releasing: Sept 4
Artists Equity’s Shot in the Dark
Subject: U.S. Paralympic Blind Soccer Team
Warner Bros.’ Supergirl
Digital Release: July 28
Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians S3
Cast: Walker Scobell, Aryan Simhadri, Leah Sava, Tamara Smart
Release: Nov 20
Neon’s Artificial
Dir: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov
US Release: Dec 2026
ESPN+’s The Trade with Kelly L. Carter
Host: Kelly L. Carter
Guests: John Cena, Marshawn Lynch
Release: July 29
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
HBO’s Industry brings on old network regular Zosia Mamet (Girls) for its fifth and final season. Mamet will play a motivated fitness influencer turned wellness CEO. Her new role is not far removed from the overly ambitious, career-driven Shoshanna Shapiro, capturing her perfect out-of-touchness across all six seasons of Girls (2012-17). While the Lena Dunham-created HBO dramedy series looked at the growing pains of twenty-somethings, Industry follows the cutthroat careers that come after, making it a natural evolution for Mamet. Production on the last eight episodes will begin in the UK next month.
Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Laura Linney (The Truman Show) join Sharon Maguire’s (Dir: Bridget Jones’s Diary) new love triangle romcom film The Joy of Sex. Based on the 1972 sex manual that became a worldwide hit, the film will follow the incredible story of how the infamous book was born. Sharon Maguire is the mastermind behind one of the most successful love triangle franchises of all time, the Bridget Jones series. She knows how to create heartfelt romantic situations with ingenuity. With Firth, Moore, and Linney at its center, the film feels perfect for an older version of Bridget Jones.
Casting Tidbits:
Toheeb Jimoh
The White Lotus’ Natasha Rothwell
Rick Kumazawa
All these casting tidbits and more here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
The Toronto Film Festival’s 11th annual Primetime Program unveils its upcoming lineup.
The section has shows from Netflix, Amazon, Peacock and A24. Here’s the full breakdown: https://theindustry.co/p/tiff-primetime-program
Sarajevo Film Festival reveals its full lineup of 51 films set to screen in its 32nd edition of the festival. This includes 21 world premieres and 6 international premieres across four competition selections: narrative feature, feature and short documentary, narrative short and student short.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Sony acquires global rights to the most expensive Indian film ever made: Ramayana. The film centers on the ancient tale of Rama, a prince who spends years in exile while his wife Sita is kidnapped by the demon king Ravana.
The film boasts some of the best talent in Hollywood, including the visual effects company DNEG (VFX: The Odyssey, Interstellar) and music from Hans Zimmer.
Nitesh Tiwari directs the project, with Ranbir Kapoor (Animal), Yash (K.G.F. Franchise), and Sai Pallavi (Amaran) starring. The first film is scheduled to be released during Diwali 2026.
The two-part epic Ramayana is speculated to be the most expensive film in Indian cinema history, with producer Namit Malhotra announcing a combined budget of $500M.
The biggest Indian films have been big box office earners; Dhurandhar (2025) made $137.2M WW and RRR (2022) garnered $166.6M. Ramayana is positioned to be a statement project, declaring that Indian cinema can compete with Hollywood in the global event-film space.
Tidbit:
Concert film George Michael: The Faith Tour gets acquired by Bleecker Street. The company’s event cinema division Crosswalk will release the film in North America. Shot during the European leg of the Faith Tour in 1988, the doc film will feature never-before-seen footage of George Michael. Bleecker Street continues expanding its concert film slate, having released Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience (2026), which featured a global K-pop icon in their SoFi Stadium performance.
Mini Tidbits:
Billkin Putthipong Assaratanakul (The Red Envelope) stars in an Untitled Thai Snooker Project. The feature film will be directed by Wattanapong ‘Jack’ Wongwan (Dir: Netflix’s The Believers) and follow the rise of a professional snooker player.
Isabel Davis has been named the director of BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Funds. She will oversee £20M ($26.8M) each year to support independent UK filmmakers.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel set decorator Mary Kate Golding has tragically died.
ON THIS DAY
1998. Saving Private Ryan is released.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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