News
Paramount's Warner bid has a deadline nobody is discussing
The $31-a-share offer has been reported everywhere. The clock attached to it, which starts running on 30 September, has not.
Marcus Dey2 min2.2K reads
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Box Office
Street Fighter's $4m previews point to a $30m opening, not $43m
Street Fighter took $4m in Thursday previews. 2026's other two video game films opened at 6.8 and 7.4 times their preview number, which brackets this weekend at $27m to $30m, under every tracking figure, against an $82m budget.
News
Zendaya's new Alex Garland film is his third since he quit directing
Alex Garland has announced his retirement from directing twice on the record, in 2022 and 2024. Since the second statement he has directed Warfare, taken on A24's most expensive film ever, and now signed Zendaya for an untitled sci-fi shooting in 2027.
Streaming
Netflix hires Peter Rice 1,600 days after Disney sacked him
Disney fired Peter Rice on 9 June 2022. On 26 October 2026, exactly 1,600 days later, he takes over Netflix's entire content operation from Bela Bajaria, the first external hire for the job in the company's history.
News
Canal+ VAT rise would cost €200m a year. Its film deal is €196m
Canal+'s July accord commits €196m a year to French and European film from 2028. The draft 2027 budget's VAT rise costs it up to €200m a year, and triggers the clause that voids the whole deal.
News
Sky's £1.6bn ITV takeover is Nandy's second media warning in 107 days
Lisa Nandy's 'minded to intervene' letter on Sky and ITV comes 107 days after the one she sent Paramount. Laid next to three earlier Sky cases, the dates show which kind of review this is likely to be.
Box Office
Clayface needs only $22m to match Superman's return per dollar
Superman opened to 55.6 cents for every dollar of its $225m budget. On a reported $40m, Clayface hits the same mark at $22.2m, below the bottom of its tracking range.
Streaming
Netflix layoffs take back half of the 2,000 jobs it added in 2025
Netflix grew from about 14,000 to 16,000 full-time staff in 2025, the fastest year in its recent filings. Wednesday's 1,000 cuts reverse half of that, six days before third-quarter results, with revenue still rising 13%.
News
Narnia gets 49 days in cinemas, 3.5 times what Netflix first offered
In January 2025 Netflix offered Narnia: The Magician's Nephew 14 days on IMAX screens. It now gets 49 days in every kind of cinema, with Sony handling the rest of the world, and two outlets are still printing the wrong number.
News
The day in film and television: deals, casting, production starts and the moves that reshape a slate.
News
Zendaya's new Alex Garland film is his third since he quit directing
Alex Garland has announced his retirement from directing twice on the record, in 2022 and 2024. Since the second statement he has directed Warfare, taken on A24's most expensive film ever, and now signed Zendaya for an untitled sci-fi shooting in 2027.
News
Canal+ VAT rise would cost €200m a year. Its film deal is €196m
Canal+'s July accord commits €196m a year to French and European film from 2028. The draft 2027 budget's VAT rise costs it up to €200m a year, and triggers the clause that voids the whole deal.
News
Sky's £1.6bn ITV takeover is Nandy's second media warning in 107 days
Lisa Nandy's 'minded to intervene' letter on Sky and ITV comes 107 days after the one she sent Paramount. Laid next to three earlier Sky cases, the dates show which kind of review this is likely to be.
The Grapevine
What the industry is whispering about — feuds, rewrites, walkouts and the stories behind the official statement.
The Grapevine
Higgsfield's 4-star Trustpilot score rests on reviews it asked for
We counted the 200 most recent Trustpilot reviews of Higgsfield and sorted them by who asked for them. Invited reviewers give the AI video company 4.4 stars. Unprompted ones give it 3.5, and 31% give it one. Archived snapshots show the score climbing from 2.8 to 4.0 in nine months, and when the turn came.
The Grapevine
Higgsfield faces scam claims as 'unlimited' AI renders take hours
Higgsfield launched a 33-day 'unlimited' offer on 7 August with a published average render time under five minutes. Within eleven days paying users were reporting waits of two hours and more. The refund window had already closed. Here is the timeline, the small print and the complaints on file.
The Grapevine
Coyote vs. Acme went from tax write-off to a $15.4m opening
The Looney Tunes film Warner buried for a tax break opened in second place and held third over Labor Day. The numbers are ordinary, which is exactly the embarrassing part.
Box Office
Weekend numbers, breakevens and what a result actually means for the people who greenlit it.
Box Office
Street Fighter's $4m previews point to a $30m opening, not $43m
Street Fighter took $4m in Thursday previews. 2026's other two video game films opened at 6.8 and 7.4 times their preview number, which brackets this weekend at $27m to $30m, under every tracking figure, against an $82m budget.
Box Office
Clayface needs only $22m to match Superman's return per dollar
Superman opened to 55.6 cents for every dollar of its $225m budget. On a reported $40m, Clayface hits the same mark at $22.2m, below the bottom of its tracking range.
Box Office
The Odyssey outdrew Digger 3.7 to 1 per cinema in its 13th weekend
The Odyssey averaged $3,571 a cinema in its 13th weekend against $964 for Digger's second. Three days back in IMAX took $2m; the seven days without it took $1.81m.
Streaming
What is landing on the services, what is quietly disappearing, and how the platforms are changing their bets.
Streaming
Netflix hires Peter Rice 1,600 days after Disney sacked him
Disney fired Peter Rice on 9 June 2022. On 26 October 2026, exactly 1,600 days later, he takes over Netflix's entire content operation from Bela Bajaria, the first external hire for the job in the company's history.
Streaming
Netflix layoffs take back half of the 2,000 jobs it added in 2025
Netflix grew from about 14,000 to 16,000 full-time staff in 2025, the fastest year in its recent filings. Wednesday's 1,000 cuts reverse half of that, six days before third-quarter results, with revenue still rising 13%.
Streaming
The X-Files reboot cast has no Scully. Carter predicted one in August
On 11 August Chris Carter said Mulder and Scully would be in Ryan Coogler's X-Files. Sixty-three days later Hulu ordered the series with two new agents and neither of them. Here is everything Carter has said, with dates.