Can you hear it? There's a box office bonanza underway far beyond the usual hums of the creaky Franchise IP Machine that usually revs up about this time each summer popcorn season. Look to the Backrooms, Obsessions and Iron Lungs for Hollywood's new wave. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Garth Davis' last Cannes laugh; micro-budget king Damien Leone's next move; Jorge Gutierrez' AI backtrack; Chrissy Metz turns to Broadway.
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A 20-year-old director, Kane Parsons, is now meeting the A-list as
A24's Backrooms heads for an astounding $80 million-plus box office showing this weekend, opening tens of millions higher than early tracking of $45 million to $55 million. It's becoming clear there's a new wave of YouTube-fluent filmmakers in town, counting Obsession helmer Curry Barker and Iron Lung director Mark Fischbach.
As Borys Kit reported this week, "one studio is so hot to work with Barker and so believes in the YouTuber-turned-theatrical filmmaker, that it attempted to make a preemptive offer of $10 million for Barker’s next original project, sight unseen," adding, "Parsons could be next in line for a payday."
This new crop of filmmakers and their films seem to be striking a chord with the Gen Z audience in a way that movies routinely did for 20-something viewers in the 2010s. The Marvel and Star Wars movies, as well as remakes of 20th century hits, no longer bring in the coveted young demo as they did before. "The moment is here," one studio head tells Kit. "YouTube is blessing these filmmakers and we are struggling to catch up. Right now, it’s about us not being second to the party."
+ Aaron Couch profiles the prime movers behind Obsession, Tea Shop's James Harris and Mark Lane, who pride themselves on taking a chance on newcomers. "To actually take the chance on the first movie is something that we feel there is a market for. We can work with financial partners to take that risk," says Harris.
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What will Nick Bilton do at the helm of the Bari Weiss era 60 Minutes? The veteran print journalist tells Alex Weprin that he wants to bring in "some of that kind of gonzo journalism stuff that I've done." One can look to his HBO doc Fake Famous as a possible template, where he took three random Angelenos with modest social media followings and tried to turn them into social media influencers. Or perhaps his series of reports about using mobile phones on airplanes, which led to the FAA changing its rules. Full report.
+ It's been a busy week for CBS reps — after Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed bowed to 1.1 million viewers in Stephen Colbert's Late Show slot, the net felt compelled to go on offense: "With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing."
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The ice was broken long before the cameras started rolling at THR’s annual Comedy Actresses Emmy Roundtable at The Georgian Hotel with Mikey O'Connell. "Your cleavage is remarkable, and I mean that respectfully," Keke Palmer tells Rachel Sennott, just as the chat is set to begin. She adds, "You know fashion, head-to-toe. You’re that girl." Over the course of an hour, they all swapped stories about experiences in the industry that have amused, annoyed and flat-out shocked them. Full conversation.
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"I think he's just afraid." — Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader, disagreeing with Amazon MGM Studios’ head of AI studios, Albert Cheng, on potential of AI movie stars.
"They repeatedly assured me in good faith that they would never do anything with Cuppy." — The Good Advice Cupcake creator Loryn Brantz, on learning that BuzzFeed inked a deal with Amazon for an AI-created animated series.
"You think this guy wants to be sitting in City Council meetings all day talking about zoning? No." — Jimmy Kimmel, on the L.A. mayoral hopes of Spencer Pratt.
"The Order has no legitimate purpose." — From ABC's fiery filing arguing that the FCC, under Trump chairman Brendan Carr, is attempting to "suppress speech."
"He is not making an offer with his own money, it is our money." — Bolloré CEO Cyrille Bolloré, shortly before Universal Music rejected Bill Ackman's $64B take over.
"Creators can walk onto a completely built, and fully lit, high-quality set and start shooting right away." — Sunset Studios svp of sales Sean Griffin, pitching "microdramas-ready" standing sets.
Logline of the Week
"A man has seven hours to solve his own murder with the reluctant help of his estranged ex." — The premise of Mad Men alum Semi Chellas' thriller The Long Now, which Netflix picked up after a bidding war.
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1) "Tom Hardy “Refused to Come Out” of MobLand Trailer"
2) "Euphoria Creator Explains Season 3’s “Horrific” Death Scene"
3) "Mark Duplass Defends Backrooms Director Kane Parsons"
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Most-watched shows of the '25-'26 season
For the second season in a row, the biggest show on TV comes from Netflix, while CBS had the most titles near the top of the ratings of any broadcast network. Cross-platform ratings for the 2025-26 season show Stranger Things as by far the most-watched series on all platforms, as measured over 35 days of viewing. CBS' Marshals is the top network show, ranking third overall with 20.7 million viewers through the midway point of its first season. Fellow CBS drama Tracker (16.4 million) and ABC's High Potential (16 million) also rank in the top 10 across all platforms. Rick Porter's full analysis.
Job Listing of the Week
Producer at Netflix's AI animation initiative
"Responsible for leading a number of directors/creators and artists on short-form content creation using new and emerging technologies, including Generative AI."
Salary range: $586,000-$825,250
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Private investment firm Advaya Capital and managing partner Anant Gupta sealed a deal to acquire Comscore Movies, which collects box office grosses across all cinemas in North America and 95 percent of theaters globally for studios. Longtime distribution chief Chris Aronson has been working behind the scenes to make the deal happen. Going forward, the venture will once again be known as Rentrak, a familiar name for box office insiders. The firm was sold for $70 million in cash. Pamela McClintock's story.
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SpaceX's IPO filing is revealing Elon Musk's grandoise media plans, including a goal of siphoning away ad dollars and subscription commitments, and a very real threat to owners of telecom players like Comcast and AT&T, where Musk's Starlink internet ambitions are still nascent but growing fast. His firm's total addressable market includes the $600 billion advertising market, betting that it can steal commitments from the likes of Disney and Meta. And it includes the $760 billion consumer subscriptions market, taking share from Netflix and ChatGPT. Alex Weprin's close read.
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Travis Scott appears to be the latest celebrity connected to Hollywood’s secret smear machine. Documents show the rapper-entrepreneur’s manager coordinating with a coterie of entertainment industry operatives against an adversary by seeking out potentially discrediting information to post on a "ghost platform." Gary Baum's report.
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Rebecca Miller had been directing acclaimed movies for 30 years by the time she was tasked with making a documentary about one of the greatest directors of all time. She reveals how Martin Scorsese’s candor, creative risk-taking and intensely personal filmmaking shaped an expansive portrait of the cinema master in her five-part docuseries. David Canfield's story.
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It's been a two-year wait for the upcoming third season of HBO's House of the Dragon. The second season of Apple TV+'s Severance was a three-year wait, as was the final season of Netflix's Stranger Things. At this point, waiting years for a new season isn't at all unusual. Per a new study by Ampere Analysis, the average wait between seasons of TV shows on major streaming platforms has reached what is almost certainly an all-time high. James Hibberd's take.
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Deli Boys stars Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh made a cameo appearance in Aladdin on Broadway. Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein debuted Netflix rom-com Office Romance in L.A. Diane von Furstenberg joined stylist Erin Walsh for a NYC book tour stop. Ella Bleu Travolta and dad John Travolta brought their Apple film Propeller One-Way Night Coach to L.A. Constance Wu, Jack Martin, Avantika and Mindy Kaling teamed up for the NYC premiere of new Hulu series Not Suitable for Work. Damian Lewis, Kerry Condon, Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott walked the carpet at the NYC premiere of Pressure. Jerry Bruckheimer honored the late production designer Constantine “Dean” Tavoularis during opening night of the L.A. Greek Film Festival. All 27 photos from this week's premieres and events.
Upcoming Releases
Notable movies heading to theaters
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Snapshots from THR's team of film critics
Barnaby Thompson’s doc Maverick on Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean showcases a "master of cinematic spectacle with less mastery over his rocky personal life." Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve "get lost" in A24's "creepy but underbaked" horror title Backrooms. Nate Bargatze’s big-screen vehicle The Breadwinner is "inoffensive to the point of total boredom." Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells' HBO film Miss You, Love You has "raw emotions, overcooked execution." As Andrew Scott faces off against Brendan Fraser in D-Day thriller Pressure, "weather forecasting makes for a surprisingly edge-of-your-seat thriller." Hélène Rosselet-Ruiz's "perceptive and credible" Cannes premiere Madame follows a working-class Frenchwoman looking after a Saudi prince’s mistress. Apple TV's For All Mankind spinoff Star City "puts a darkly compelling spin on the space race."
Winners & Losers
James Hibberd's weekly scorecard
"Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day gets buzz. Tom Hardy cannot be bothered. Miles Teller discovers the Streisand effect. Kane Parsons and Curry Barker gang up on Grogu. AI makes history (again)."
And finally,
A Hollywood Flashback...
"This is definitely the most sought after ticket in New York City tonight. I've gotten calls from people I thought were dead."
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