Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Disney’s Tik, Apple’s Fire, and a Ryder.
Let’s go!
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TikTok killed the Disney star.
Disney just struck a deal that will give select TikTok creators full access to their characters. The vertical content they create will be published on Disney+’s new Verts (i.e., Verticals) tab.
This is similar to Disney’s deal with OpenAI last year, which ultimately fell through, but is narrower in scope.
With TikTok (audience: 135M US, 1bn+ worldwide), Disney is aiming to gain an advantage by adding user-generated content to its flywheel. Potentially, folks who watch TikTok-creator-generated Disney character videos will want to run to Disney films, Disney+, or Disneyland.
Asad Ayaz, Disney’s CMO and brand officer, stated:
“The best storytellers are fans first.”
And there is an optimistic scenario here, one that sees a TikToker become a filmmaker by creating a 90-second Homer Simpson/Luke Skywalker TikTok short that goes viral and garners them a Disney development deal.
The people this hurts most, of course, are artists and ultimately the fans.
If a TikToker now has full access to Disney’s vault of characters, then some of our most beloved characters, whose storylines became formative narratives in our childhood cinema experiences, will be diluted.
Woody and Buzz doing a lifestyle vlog. Elsa giving a fashion tutorial. Yoda sharing dating advice. Okay, that last one might be kind of fun. But remember, it’s the most contentious content that always rises to the top on social media. So although Disney is not obligated to play the clips, TikTok’s platform selects for clips that spread division, not the unified shared storytelling experience of cinema.
In fact, with Disney+ showcasing these videos on its Verts tab, this type of content is brought into the same ecosystem and thus blurs the boundary between fan content and studio-authored work, giving it the same symbolic level of importance as a Pixar film. There’s no longer a platform separation between internet drudgery and the art form.
That’s a disservice to Disney, which on yesterday’s earnings call estimated that Toy Story has brought $16bn in value, generating 2bn hours on streaming. Pixar built that through the immense artistry of their storytelling across five films. And now that 2bn-hour figure is a major Disney flex, on par with the combined viewing hours of Netflix’s top 5 movies of all time (KPop Demon Hunters, Red Notice, Carry-On, Don’t Look Up, and The Adam Project), which add up to 2.03bn viewing hours.
The sad thing is, if this works and thousands of creator-made clips generate engagement at a fraction of the cost, Disney will have a financial incentive to redirect money away from the painstaking storytelling that made those characters valuable in the first place.
For More:
Nielsen offered a sobering view of Disney’s place in the streaming landscape. Disney leads the kids categories, but on every other top 20 TV chart, it barely holds any share.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Disney entertainment revenue is $11.35bn (↑ 6%). Operating profit is ↑ 64%.
Disney is considering a free, ad-supported streaming service.
Netflix lands Ali Hazelwood’s Deep End, with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps producing.
HBO joins BBC’s eight-part Tudor drama 1536.
Apple TV drops David E. Kelley & Matt Reeves’ Bonfire of the Vanities adaptation.
Warner Bros. and HBO Max are developing a Gilmore Girls doc.
Talia Ryder joins Michael Shannon in Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders.
Richard Madden will lead Paramount+’s Trauma.
NYFF announces main slate including three world premieres.
TIFF’s doc slate includes Rapinoe, Alex Gibney’s Musk, and Union Town.
Paramount Animation is developing a Bollywood musical comedy, Diya.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Collateral, [Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jazz Man hit]
15% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Disney released its Q3 2026 results. Here’s the breakdown plus the change from last year:
$11.35bn entertainment revenue (Disney+, Hulu + Linear)
↑ 6%
$1.68bn entertainment operating profit
↑ 64% (this is massive, and due to Toy Story 5 + The Devil Wears Prada 2)
$5.5bn streaming revenue
↑ 11%
Vs. Netflix’s $12.56bn (↑ 13%)
$712M streaming profit (not including sports)
↑ 100%
$1.6bn - Content Sales/Licensing and Other (e.g., Theatrical + TV Licensing)
↓ 6%
Of course, experiences are still king, with $3bn in profit (↑ 20%).
Just a note: Disney is no longer breaking out their Linear revenue, profit, or subscribers for Disney+ and Hulu, and studio profit/loss, so it’s hard to see exactly what the growth trends are.
Disney is expanding worldwide, promising to 3x their international series in the next 3 years. The company is also looking into launching a free, ad-supported streaming channel to offer a more “price-sensitive” option and grow revenue. No formal plans have been confirmed.
This was CEO Josh D’Amaro’s second quarter as CEO and a very successful one.
Tidbits:
Netflix is hopping on the Ali Hazelwood adaptation. The streamer has landed Deep End, based on Hazelwood’s bestselling romance novel, with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps and Alex Cooper’s Unwell Productions producing. The story follows a Stanford platform diver and an Olympic swimmer whose secret arrangement turns into a forbidden romance. The film becomes Cooper’s third high-profile book adaptation (following Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker and Caite Dolan-Leach’s Dead Letters), while the project continues Levy’s multi-year exclusive deal with the streamer. The new adaptation comes just ahead of the premiere of Amazon MGM’s feature adaptation of Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis.
BBC’s Tudor England series 1536 is coming to the U.S. with HBO. The network will co-produce the eight-part series with the BBC. The show is based on a stage play at the Almeida Theatre last year and follows three women in 1536 whose lives are changed forever after the arrest of King Henry VIII’s queen Anne Boleyn. The series is written by Ava Pickett (Wri: Hulu’s The Great) and is produced by Mediawan-backed Drama Republic (Prod Co: Amazon’s Steal).
The fire has gone out on The Bonfire of the Vanities. Apple TV is no longer moving forward with David E. Kelley’s limited series adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1987 satirical novel. Previously adapted into a 1990 feature film by Brian De Palma starring Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis, the new take will be shopped to other buyers following months of development at Apple. The Batman director Matt Reeves was attached to direct, with no word on whether he’ll stick.
Mini Tidbits:
Warner Bros. and HBO Max are taking us back to Stars Hollow. An untitled doc about Gilmore Girls is in the works from In Waves and War director Bonni Cohen. Show creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino confirmed series star Lauren Graham, as well as additional cast and crew.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day just earned $1.15bn in a week, already making it the highest-grossing film of the year.
Regal Cinema CEO joins AMC CEO in supporting the PSKY merger with WBD.
Renewal:
Peacock’s The Five Star Weekend (for S2)
Trailers:
TNT’s High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam
Cast: Joel Kinnaman
Release: Sept 13
Kinology’s The Green Eyes
US Release: TBD
PBS Docuseries Bucks County, USA
Sept 20
Jio Studios’ Dorothy
Release: Sept 25
First Look:
Paramount+’s The Varnell Hill Show
Release: September 1
Prime Video’s Kill Jackie
Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Release dates:
PBS Kids’ Carnival of the Animals
EP: Gustavo Dudamel
Release: Nov 16
Hallmark’s Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story
Release: Oct 17
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
From indie darling to true horror. Talia Ryder has joined Michael Shannon in Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders, the modern reimagining of classic horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from filmmaker John Erick Dowdle (No Escape).
An expressionist nightmare, the original 1920 silent film is widely considered one of the earliest and most influential horror films ever made. Dowdle’s take sees Ryder as Jane, a young woman who believes traveling mesmerist Doctor Caligari (Shannon) is responsible for her boyfriend’s mysterious disappearance.
Fresh off the announcement that she will play Mrs. Smith in Season 2 of Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, this will mark Ryder’s first true venture into horror, though she is no stranger to intense material.
From her feature debut in the Sundance-premiering Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), tasked with portraying the brutally emotional anchor for her cousin during a difficult journey to access an abortion, to her all-consuming turn as a highly pressurized ballerina in Joika (2023) drowning in her pursuit of perfection, Ryder understands the fear that fuels a good psychological horror.
Production recently wrapped in Germany.
Casting Tidbits:
Corey Stoll
Taron Egerton
Richard Madden
All those casting tidbits and more here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
The NYFF dropped its 2026 main slate. As per usual, they take the best films from other festivals, the shining gems, the breakouts, the rock star indies.
This year, only three films will world premiere:
Ava DuVernay’s 14th (Netflix)
Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! (Searchlight)
Mani Haghighi’s I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies
They’re playing films from Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Telluride, although, surprisingly, the Palme d’Or-winning film at Cannes, Fjord, didn’t make the cut.
Check out NYFF’s 2026 full line-up here.
TIFF has unveiled its Docs slate with several high-profile projects from Oscar-winning filmmakers making up the lineup.
Rapinoe
Dir: Rebeca Huntt (Beba)
Prod. Co: Impact Partners (Oscar-winning Icarus)
Synopsis:
Megan Rapinoe prepares for her last major tournament at the 2023 World Cup while engaging with her political stances.
Musk
Dir: Alex Gibney (Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side)
Prod. Co: Anonymous Content (True Detective)
Synopsis:
A thorough and unvarnished analysis of Elon Musk.
Union Town
Dir: Barbara Kopple (Oscar-winning Harlan County, U.S.A.)
Prod. Co: Cabin Creek Films (A Murder in Mansfield)
Synopsis:
Three separate but interconnected labor stories in and around New York City, focusing on delivery workers including those working for Amazon, UPS, and food-delivery apps, in their fight for higher wages and improved working conditions.
Gail
Dir: Michael Maxxis (Puppy Love)
EP: Jason Reitman (dir: Juno)
Synopsis:
A superfan of the Canadian band Our Lady Peace follows them on their 30th anniversary tour across Canada.
Read about all 21 docs at TIFF here.
WestEnd Films will launch international sales for The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, just before its premiere at Toronto. Written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson, the film follows Amanda Seyfried as an English teacher in an abusive marriage, who takes a job at a maximum-security prison where she forms a deep bond with one of her student inmates.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Hollywood is making a Bollywood animation. An animated musical comedy film, Diya, is in the works at Paramount Animation, with Nitya Mehra (Dir: Baar Baar Dekho) attached to direct.
The film follows an Indian American teen girl in New Jersey who unexpectedly gets transported into the world of a Bollywood musical. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Dirs: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) will produce the film.
As an American animated film drawing on an Asian musical tradition, the premise sounds very similar to last year’s breakout hit animation KPop Demon Hunters, which became the most-watched film of all time on Netflix. Bollywood has a rich history, and if Diya can follow the KPop Demon Hunters formula – of blending great storytelling and characters with killer Bollywood dance soundtracks – we think this could definitely become a new cultural phenomenon.
ON THIS DAY
1911. Lucille Ball born in Jamestown, New York.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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My only connection with Hollywood was as an extra from age 79 to 90 . quiting 3 years ago (occasional small acting roles too) vut it was a lot of fun and I miss being on a movie set or TV set even as an extra. I met some really intereting people including some big name actors, So fun to read youe column, amazing amount of information each day. I'm surprised at how much is going on as friends tell me not much work anymore for extres. But to keep busy myself since my eyesight prevents me from driving, I am writing songs of all things (lyrics only and using AI for the voices and music. Also completed a movie script, a kid's film that actually got optioned but the producer could never find a "name" director in order to get the $20 million dollar financing. But a new producer is interested and is sipposed to be sending me a n option to sign.
I'll keep you posted if the film gets greenlighted as it could be one of your news items "93 year-old first time screenwriter ges film deal with XXXXX studio."
Robert Evans