Netflix Gaming Pivot Is Really About Catching Up to YouTube
Earlier this month, Netflix launched its first “Game Night” event, a cluster of easily accessible party games that families and friends can play together in person on their smartphones with a built-in controller app, in tandem with their TV sets. Four years after the formation of Netflix’s first video game division and following several closures of its […]
How Film Franchise Power Shifted in 2025
Five years on from COVID, established IP remains an integral component of the challenged film exhibition environment. But what has noticeably changed is which franchises do the heavy lifting. 2025 was the first year since 2021 in which franchises account for more than half of the wide-release output across the seven major studio slates, including […]
‘Black Phone 2’ Cements R-Rated Horror Streak Ahead of ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’, ‘Predator’ Popularity Tests
Blumhouse finally caught up to its peers last month with Black Phone 2, the go-to horror film of this Halloween season. The supernatural slasher first opened to $27.3 million domestically, which was more than any of the cumulative grosses earned by the prodco’s prior 2025 efforts, including M3GAN 2.0’s somber summer run that stopped the seemingly budding franchise dead in its […]
Saudi Bid for EA Could Leave the Game Giant’s Valuable IP Hanging
When Microsoft completed its mammoth deal to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in 2023, Electronic Arts became the largest standalone Western video game publisher.
Blumhouse, Microsoft, Google Leaders Weigh in on AI: ‘My Biggest Professional Fear’
OpenAI’s Sora 2 app update kicked off October with existential questions for Hollywood and the tenacity of corporate-owned IP.
Examining Hollywood’s Increasingly Asymmetrical Embrace of Gaming IP
Newly christened Paramount Skydance turned heads in September with a major deal for a Call of Duty film.
Demon Slayer Cements Sony’s Anime Advantage in Otherwise Tough Year
Sony Pictures has demonstrated how potent its top IP can be, such as when Spider-Man: No Way Home resurrected the pandemic box office at the end of 2021.
Why the 2025 Fall Box Office Needs to Carry the Year Again
September is off to a great start at the movies, thanks to Warner Bros.’ The Conjuring: Last Rites, which achieved a franchise-best opening and continued the studio’s hot streak throughout 2025.
Call of Duty Deal Cements Paramount Skydance as Major Cross-Media Player
Less than a month after its christening, Paramount Skydance jumped on the next big milestone for gaming’s role in Hollywood: a Call of Duty feature film.
UFC Rights Deal Could Be the Start of a New, Younger Paramount
With its whopping $7.7 billion deal for the streaming rights to all UFC events in the U.S., newly christened Paramount Skydance is making a big play to reposition its SVOD for younger subscribers.