Good morning! We’re both looking forward to seeing so many of you at our SAG event with Netflix tonight for All The Light We Cannot See. Janice will be interviewing the stars of Shawn Levy’s filmed version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater.
Speaking of events… we had a great time at Women in Film on Thursday. Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and honoree America Ferrera crushed it onstage right before Jon Hamm fêted director Celine Song and actress Greta Lee of Past Lives, and then turned the stage over for their emotional interview with Janice.
And now, ICYMI, our best of the week:
Failure to Communicate
As conversations over Israel-Hamas boil over, Hollywood is moving its opinions underground on encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal. Peter Kiefer reports on the town’s invite-only power groups, who’s in them and what it all means:
Science Behind an Opening Weekend
What makes a hit movie? Richard lays out his surefire points system to tell whether or not that next studio tentpole is box office gold:
Non! Nein! Não!
Behind every international hit à la Squid Game or Nowhere lies the wreckage of dozens more overseas titles that fail to resonate with American audiences. Entertainment Strategy Guy delivers the data:
Streaming’s Ad Shakeup
Amazon’s broadcast and streaming competitors are bracing as ads on Prime Video — said to be worth a high nine-figure sum during year one in the U.S. — are about to hit. Claire Atkinson reports on the impending shakeup:
A GREAT READ
Jimmy Carter biographer Jonathan Alter spoke to Jennifer Laski about the 39th president’s dazzling coalition of supporters, and regrets over losing a second term: “He said, ‘What I really wanted to do was complete the [Middle East] peace process and have a two-state solution that brought a regional peace.’”
☀️THE WAKEUP
🎧 PODCASTS
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THE ANKLER
A grabby first 10 minutes. Elevated genre. Superheroes…still?! Expert Kevin Goetz on the studios’ new high-stakes game:
MARTINI SHOT
Rob Long on the correlation between Hollywood success and hidden emotions:
👓 THE OPTIONIST
IP Picks🔎: Liz Cheney’s Profile in Courage Plus, an art heist caper and a babysitter with a dead body problem
IP Picks🔎 Worth a Second Look Revisiting a Black Mirror-like murder mystery, a fairy-tale mashup and more. Plus, two backlist long-form articles whose options just expired
