What's news: Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker has died. Trump has dropped part of his $10b lawsuit against the BBC. Danny Boyle's Murdoch biopoc Ink will open Venice. Chloe Fineman is exiting SNL. And His & Hers was the most watched series on Netflix in 2026, so far. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com.
|
Netflix Stock Tumbles On Q2 Earnings Report
|
►Down she goes. Netflix's Q2 2026 earnings results are unlikely to bring a smile back to shareholders’ faces. On Thursday, the streamer revealed that it had missed the mark a little bit in terms of revenue. Netflix’s Q2 revenue was $12.56b and net income was $3.40b. Back in April, Netflix estimated its Q2 revenue would come in at $12.57b. Shares in Netflix had already been struggling but after the Q2 numbers crossed the wire, and the stock sunk as much as 9 percent, hitting not just a 52-week low, but a low dating back as far as September 2024. The results.
—Not so FAST! Netflix does not currently have plans to launch its own free, ad-supported streaming service, but also isn’t ruling it out. Speaking on Thursday's earnings call, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said “a free offering could make sense in some markets,” given the streamer’s strategy of offering multiple price tiers and its goal of increasing engagement on the platform. However, he noted that this is not something that is currently in the works. The story.
—Transparency? I hardly knew thee. Netflix says it’s putting an end to its semiannual data releases that detail views and total time spent on thousands of series and movies on the platform. Instead, the company will move to annual releases starting early next year. For the first half of 2026, Netflix users worldwide spent about 97.7b hours watching series and films on the platform. That’s a 2 percent increase from the first half of last year (95.2b) and a small uptick from the second half of 2025 (97.1b hours). The story.
—"Our shows tend to start really big, where most other places, their shows start pretty small and occasionally grow from there." After a viral Bloomberg piece outlined Netflix's season two problem of steep viewing declines for several shows, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Thursday acknowledged that second seasons of the streamer’s shows tend to draw less well than debut seasons. But, he said, it’s not as bad as a recently prevalent narrative would make it seem. The story.
|
The "Plot" Against the President?
|
►Betteridge's law of headlines. ABC and NBC opted to stream Donald Trump’s conspiracy-laden election integrity speech last night on their streaming platforms, rather than carry it live on their networks. CBS News added an editorial caveat about Trump's tendency to lie about the elections before airing the speech. CNN also didn't carry the speech live but the cable network had coverage around it. The story.
—"Broadcasters have become a bit more finicky about letting presidents onto their airwaves." If Trump proved anything with his primetime address Thursday night, it wasn’t that China or Venezuela hacked into America’s voting machines during the 2020 election. It was that Trump, in 2026, couldn’t even hack into an episode of Press Your Luck after being snubbed by two of the Big Four broadcast networks, writes THR's Benjamin Svetkey. The story.
—The latest. Trump has dropped part of his $10b lawsuit against the BBC, new court documents reveal. Last year, Trump sued the British broadcaster over claims that a Panorama documentary was doctored to make it appear as though Trump, during his Jan. 6, 2021 speech outside the White House, had urged his followers to attack the Capitol. New details have now emerged that the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios, has been dropped from the suit. The story.
|
Marvel Comics to Leave New York for L.A. |
►Excelsior! After calling the Big Apple home for almost 90 years, Marvel Comics is moving out of New York City and heading to Hollywood. The publishing division is transferring operations to Burbank, California, the current HQ of Marvel Studios and corporate parent, Disney. The development is accompanied by a changing of the guard at the top. Stephen Wacker has been named Marvel’s new editor-in-chief, replacing outgoing chief C.B. Cebulski, who had steered the division since 2017. The story.
—Helluva price cut. A year after hitting the market, a historic Hollywood soundstage complex near downtown L.A. has had its listing reworked and price dropped from $45m to $25m. Occidental Studios, the space that houses four stages totaling 31,489-square-feet along with eight office buildings and bungalows on 2.75 acres, was previously marketed by real estate services giant CBRE along with a 4,500 square foot building off-site that was used as a mill. The new listing cuts that off-site building, yet it also shaves $20m off the asking price. The story.
—Frightening. NBC’s Today morning show had a security breach on Thursday morning that led to the arrest of an unauthorized intruder. Thankfully, no one was harmed. According to NYPD sources the intruder entered the lobby, got past security and moved through the first-floor gold doors to the stairs to reach Studio 1A. Within seconds, the intruder apparently got into a “verbal exchange” on the staircase with Today co-anchor Craig Melvin and reportedly yelled a racial slur before being detained. The story.
—Floundering. Objection has overruled itself! This spring, Peter Thiel’s high-profile new startup had sought to disrupt journalism by establishing a tribunal in which reporters would be dragooned into AI-powered arbitrations paid for by the unhappy subjects of their articles. Now, the company has been renamed The Primary, pivoting to a system in which journalists are ranked on a digital scoreboard by the expertise of a large language model. The story.
|
Chloe Fineman Exits 'SNL' After 7 Seasons |
►"It’s really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time." Chloe Fineman is exiting Saturday Night Live after seven seasons, the comedian announced on Instagram Thursday. Her departure comes ahead of the show’s 52nd season on NBC. Fineman leaves after a sizable upheaval in the show’s cast last year, which saw the departures of Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Devon Walker, Emil Wakima and Michael Longfellow before season 51 began and Bowen Yang partway through the season. SNL also added five featured players — Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska — last season. The story.
—LeSpoiler. The NBA really wants to set its 2026-2027 schedule. Its media partners at NBC Sports, ESPN and Amazon want it too. The league is just waiting on LeBron James. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, in a wide-ranging conversation at the CNBC/Boardroom Summit Thursday, said that the league, well aware of a TV draw when it sees one, is waiting to see where James chooses to play next season. The story.
—Step aside DAZN. Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions is bringing the first-ever championship boxing bout to TikTok, with Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano defending her unified title against Argentina’s #2 WBO contender Lucrecia Manzur. The fight will take place on Aug. 21 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California. TikTok has previously hosted boxing matches, but none with this much on the line. The story.
|
Netflix Unveils First NZ Original Series 'Queenstown'
|
►Kiwi-ing it real, bro. After more than 10 years of streaming content to the country, Netflix has kicked off production on its first original New Zealand series. Queenstown is an eight-episode drama set amid the luxury ski scene of the titular resort town. Unfolding amid the moneyed gloss of the town’s ski-resort elite, the series follows a privileged family and the people who work for them as their lives collide over power, loyalty and desire — or, as Netflix put it, “a wealthy family at war with itself." Queenstown was created and written by Chloe Stearns and stars Rufus Sewell, Frances O'Connor, Alycia Debnam-Carey and Te Kohe Tuhaka. The story.
—🎭 We have our Lucy. 🎭 Yellowjackets and Heated Rivalry star Sophie Nélisse has been tapped to lead Netflix Canada's upcoming romance series, This Summer Will Be Different. The 10-episode series is based on Carley Fortune’s popular romance novel of the same name and hails from Sphere Media. Nélisse is set to take on the role of Lucy. Casting for her love interest, Felix, has yet to be announced. The story.
—🤝 First-look deal. 🤝 Jeff Frost’s Bristol Circle Entertainment has signed a first-look development deal with Canada’s Bell Media. The agreement with the Heated Rivalry network will see the former president of Sony Pictures Television Studios and his L.A.-based production banner create original scripted series for CTV and Crave and for global export. The story.
—Woof! A lot of people found their way to Netflix’s I Will Find You in its first week on the platform. The streamer’s latest series based on a Harlan Coben novel debuted at No. 1 in Nielsen’s streaming ratings for June 15-21, amassing 1.84b minutes of viewing time in the U.S. I Will Find You beat out the previous week’s leader, Love Island USA. The Peacock reality series fell off a little bit but still posted a very strong 1.69b viewing minutes (vs. 1.83b a week earlier). They were the only two shows or movies to top a billion minutes of viewing for the week. The streaming rankings.
|
Cruise Praises Nolan's 'The Odyssey' |
►Thumbs up from Mr. Theatrical Experience. Tom Cruise has given Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey his influential stamp of approval. The actor took to social media on Thursday after attending an early screening of the movie, thanking the filmmaker, his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas, and the film’s cast and crew. “Wow! To Chris, Emma, and ALL of your brilliant cast and crew. Thank you for an amazing night in a movie theater. I can’t wait to see it again!” he captioned a photo of himself holding a movie ticket in front of the film’s Imax 70mm theater. The story.
—🎭 Dream team. 🎭 Rose Byrne is reteaming with her If I Had Legs I’d Kick You director, Mary Bronstein, on her next project, with Jenna Ortega also set to star. Nasty, written by Isabella Jarosz and 2024 Black List entrant, follows a young athlete battling for a spot on the Olympic gymnastics team who must overcome her biggest opponent: her coach. Barbie production company LuckyChap is producing along with Ortega. Nasty will begin filming this fall. This is the latest project for Clockwork, the newly founded Warner Bros-based specialty label. The story.
|
Danny Boyle's Rupert Murdoch Drama 'Ink' to Open Venice
|
►Grand opening. Danny Boyle‘s Ink, a drama about Rupert Murdoch’s rise to media power in the world of the U.K. tabloids, will open this year’s Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2. Guy Pearce stars as Murdoch in the biopic, from playwright James Graham, who adapted his play of the same name for the screen. Jack O’Connell plays Larry Lamb, hired by Murdoch to run his tabloid The Sun and transform it into a malevolent force in British media. The story.
—Grand closing. Dio ride, written and directed by Giovanni Veronesi, will close the Venice Film Festival, in an out-of-competition slot. Dio ride will have its world premiere on Sept. 12, after the awards ceremony. A synopsis for the film, loosely based on real events in the mid-1600s, reads: "While the Church preaches in Latin, Fra Leopoldo recounts the Gospel with contagious joy." The story.
—Heading north. Rachel Morrison’s Love of Your Life, starring Margaret Qualley; Ben Shirinian’s The Housewife, with Naomi Watts; and the Mahershala Ali-starring hitman thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother are set for world premieres at the Toronto Film Festival in September. TIFF is also giving a first look for Glaxo, from Argentine Benjamín Naishtat, and an international premiere for the Zellner brothers’ alien invasion comedy Alpha Gang. The story.
—Hometown hero. James Gray's Paper Tiger will get its North American premiere as the opening night film at the 2026 New York Film Festival. The crime thriller, which is set for a gala screening on Sept. 25, stars Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. The film had its world premiere at Cannes and will be released by Neon in November. The film is Gray’s latest semi-fictionalized take on his family life growing up in the 1980s in Queens. The story.
|
►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—I’m Having an Episode. THR’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest TV and entertainment news with a little help from his friends, colleagues and a revolving door of actors, writers, showrunners and filmmakers. In this episode, Mikey interviews D'Arcy Carden who discusses her new Peacock series Five Star Weekend and Airbnb-hopping with Sherry Cola. Plus! Mikey is joined by Mia Galuppo and Kyle Desiderio, who reveal what's actually worth watching this summer. The podcast.
In other news...
—Starz unveils first looks at young Ghost and young Tommy in Power: Origins
—Animation finally gets its own green certification
—Shaboozey to make Comic-Con debut for comic tied to new album
—Alza Microdrama Festival partners with NYC Mayor’s Office for October debut
—Asghar Farhadi to receive honorary Heart of Sarajevo
—Disney’s next big product line sees its star characters collide with NFL teams
—Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed
What else we're reading...
—Aaron Blake unpacks new polling data that shows Trump's devoted base is shrinking [CNN]
—Dan Adler talked to TMZ's DC reporters on how they are bringing Washington fully into its tabloid era [Vanity Fair]
—Getting in there early, Tom Hazeldine writes that new U.K. PM, Andy "King of the North" Burnham, won't save Britain [NYT]
—Steven McIntosh reports that ten unreleased tracks by David Bowie are set to be shared with the public [BBC]
—Here's your Friday list: All 13 Christopher Nolan movies ranked from worst to best, Including The Odyssey [THR]
Today...
...in 2013, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation released Turbo in theaters. The animated tale about a superfast snail who somehow enters the Indy 500 didn't light up the box office when it was released but has since become a perennial streaming favorite — much to the chagrin of exhausted parents everywhere (myself included). The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Wong Kar-Wai (68), Justine Triet (48), Brett Goldstein (46), Alex Winter (61), F. Gary Gray (57), Tom Cullen (🏴41), Billie Lourd (34), Eric Winter (50), Sarah Jones (43), Dagmara Dominczyk (50), Jason Clarke (57), Mike Vogel (47), Elena Anaya (51), Maggie Wheeler (65), David Hasselhoff (74), Grace Caroline Currey (30), Alun Armstrong (80), Cécile de France (51), Katharine Towne (48), P.J. Soles (76), Heather Langenkamp (62), John Ventimiglia (63), Robin Shou (66), Jessica Amlee (32), Stefania Spampinato (44), Simon West (65), Kamilla Kowal (29), Lucie Arnaz (75), Sasha Stallone (76), Mélanie Thierry (45), Perla Haney-Jardine (29), Summer Bishil (38), Margot Rose (75), Jonno Davies (34), Micaela Diamond (27), Brando Eaton (40), Janeen Damian (65), Robert Romanus (70), Beth Littleford (58), Robert Bobroczkyi (26)
|
Brenda Fricker, who overcame a harrowing childhood to become the first Irish actress to win an Oscar, taking the prize for her turn as the unwavering mother of Daniel Day-Lewis’ character in My Left Foot, has died. She was 81. The obituary.
|
|
|
|
