Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Friday, July 24, 2026
The Odyssey Posts $18M Wednesday — Nolan’s Second-Best Ever Mid-Week — Six-Day Cume Hits $181.6 Million
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey continued its record-setting run, earning $18.05 million on Wednesday — the second-best Wednesday of Nolan’s career behind The Dark Knight’s $18.3 million in July 2008, and the best Wednesday ever for a non-holiday film that opened north of $100 million. Universal’s epic now carries a six-day domestic total of $181.6 million, with projections pointing to a second weekend between $61 million and $74 million. The film holds all major IMAX and PLF screens this weekend with no wide studio competition, before Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives July 31 tracking to surpass The Odyssey’s $123.5 million live-action domestic opening record.
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Peacock Posts First-Ever Quarterly Profit of $189 Million, Hits 48 Million Subscribers as NBCUniversal Spinoff Advances
Peacock has reached a landmark milestone, posting its first-ever quarterly operating profit of $189 million in Q2 2026 — a major turnaround for the streaming service that has been loss-making since its 2020 launch. The platform added two million subscribers to reach 48 million, fueled by the FIFA World Cup, NBA Playoffs, and Love Island USA. Comcast ad revenue jumped 55% in the quarter, underlining the role of live sport and unscripted programming in the platform’s commercial recovery. The results arrive as Comcast finalizes plans to spin off NBCUniversal into a separate publicly traded company, with Peacock’s profitability now a central argument for the spinoff’s valuation.
IMAX Posts $103 Million Q2 Revenue, 65% EPS Surge as CEO Calls The Odyssey ‘Transformational’
IMAX Corporation reported a standout second quarter, with Q2 2026 revenue of $103 million — up 12% year-over-year — and adjusted earnings per share surging 65% to $0.43. CEO Rich Gelfond called Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey “a transformational event” and “the purest and most complete expression yet of the power of our global platform.” The Odyssey captured 20% of its worldwide debut gross on IMAX screens despite the format occupying less than 1% of total screens globally. The results reinforce the premium-format-first rollout as a distinct marketing strategy: IMAX exclusivity windows, early ticket sales, and 70mm roadshows are now measurable commercial drivers, not just prestige signals.
Judge Extends Paramount-WBD Merger TRO to August 17 as 12 State AGs and WGA Join Legal Fight
A federal judge has extended the temporary restraining order blocking the $110 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger to August 17, giving opponents additional time to mount their injunction bid. The TRO extension follows a significant legal broadening: 12 state attorneys general have joined the challenge, arguing the combined company would distort content markets, while the Writers Guild of America also filed as a plaintiff over labor-competition concerns. The European Union has already approved the deal. With studio operations and development pipelines in limbo, the extended legal timeline is creating ripple effects on marketing budgets and release-calendar planning at both Paramount and Warner Bros.
Atari and Universal Pictures Strike 10-Film Deal for Asteroids, Pong, Missile Command and More Classic Arcade IP
Atari and Universal Pictures have signed a deal giving Universal the rights to develop 10 classic arcade game properties into feature films: Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, and Yars’ Revenge. Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady will produce. Universal has already purchased the first project — an original script by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe — and will develop big-scale action-adventure films from the catalog. The deal signals Hollywood’s escalating bet that retro game nostalgia can anchor franchise tentpoles with the same commercial logic as superhero IP, targeting audiences with multi-decade relationships to the source material.
Paramount’s Ebenezer Goes Guerrilla at Comic-Con: Johnny Depp as Scrooge in Gaslamp, Then a Hall H Trailer Reveal
Paramount Pictures staged one of Comic-Con 2026’s most talked-about marketing stunts Thursday: Johnny Depp appeared unannounced in full Scrooge costume inside a faux 1880s British Christmas village erected in San Diego’s Gaslamp district, drawing a crowd that had gathered for over an hour. Depp then crashed Collider’s Hall H panel to unveil the trailer for director Ti West’s Ebenezer, in which he delivers the in-character line “It’s good to be back.” The film — releasing November 13, 2026 and co-starring Ian McKellen, Rupert Grint, Sam Claflin, and Daisy Ridley — marks Depp’s most prominent Hollywood marketing appearance since his 2022 defamation trial.
CBS Switches Affiliations From Nexstar to Hearst TV and Forum Communications in Six Markets, Effective August 1
CBS is pulling its affiliate agreements from Nexstar-owned stations in six markets, reassigning them to Hearst Television and Forum Communications stations effective August 1. The affected Nexstar stations will convert to CW Network affiliates. Among the impacted markets: Albuquerque, New Mexico, where KOAT-TV (Hearst) becomes the new CBS affiliate, while Nexstar’s KRQE-TV will carry Fox on its primary channel. Nexstar confirmed CBS is extending affiliation in 36 other markets. The realignment reflects ongoing friction between broadcast networks and local station groups over retransmission consent fees and distribution terms — pressures that directly shape how network entertainment is programmed, branded, and marketed to household audiences across America.
Box Office — Currently in Theatres
| # | Title | Release Date | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Odyssey | Jul 18 | $123.5M | $123.5M |
| 2 | Moana | Jul 11 | $17.9M | $55.8M |
| 3 | Toy Story 5 | Jun 20 | $13.8M | $499.2M |
| 4 | Minions & Monsters | Jul 3 | $13.6M | $131.9M |
| 5 | Evil Dead Burn | Jul 11 | $4.7M | $22.1M |
| 6 | The Invite | Jun 27 | $3.9M | $35.2M |
| 7 | Young Washington | Jul 3 | $3.6M | $27.4M |
| 8 | Obsession | May 15 | $2.4M | $91.3M |
| 9 | Supergirl | Jun 27 | $1.5M | $106.8M |
| 10 | Disclosure Day | Jun 12 | $1.3M | $41.7M |
| 11 | Backrooms | May 29 | $715K | $54.2M |
| 12 | Scary Movie | Jun 5 | $241K | $59.1M |
| 13 | Jackass: Best and Last | Jun 27 | $231K | $18.9M |
| 14 | Michael | Apr 3 | $143K | $82.6M |
| 15 | Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu | May 22 | $115K | $516.1M |
| 16 | Gail Daughtry: The Rising | Jul 11 | $111K | $1.0M |
| 17 | Masters of the Universe | Jun 5 | $104K | $63.2M |
| 18 | Maddie’s Secret | Jun 20 | $81K | $4.8M |
| 19 | Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World | Jul 3 | $50K | $171K |
| 20 | The Devil Wears Prada 2 | May 1 | $36K | $220.5M |
Source: Box Office Mojo · Weekend estimates July 17–19, 2026
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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