Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Friday, July 3, 2026
Minions & Monsters Opens to $14.2M First Day, Eyes $80M Holiday Frame
Universal and Illumination’s Minions & Monsters opened to a $14.23 million first day on Wednesday, July 1, the best opening salvo yet for the 16-year-old franchise. The seventh entry in the Despicable Me series — set in 1920s Hollywood and following the Minions’ foray into monster-movie screenwriting — is targeting a five-day holiday haul between $60 million and $90 million, with tracking centered at $80 million from 4,000 North American theaters. Audiences awarded it an A− CinemaScore, and the Illumination production earned a franchise-best 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the best-reviewed entry in the 16-year-old series.
Supergirl Tracking 60% Second-Weekend Drop as DC Studios Projects $125M Overall Loss
Supergirl is tracking an estimated 60% drop in its second weekend, as analysts now project the DC Studios release will incur an overall loss of approximately $125 million. The film opened last weekend to $37.1 million domestically — well below pre-release tracking of $55 million-plus — and earned a weak B− CinemaScore. DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran acknowledged the debut fell below expectations. The underperformance accelerates pressure on the studio to recalibrate its character rollout strategy under the new DCU leadership and draws scrutiny to whether the female-led chapter of the DC Universe was launched prematurely.
Young Washington Opens for America’s 250th Birthday, Angel Studios Projects $15-20M Four-Day
Angel Studios’ historical biopic Young Washington opens in theaters today, timed to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary on July 4. Directed by Jon Erwin, the film follows the early life of George Washington and stars William Franklyn-Miller in the title role alongside Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis, and Kelsey Grammer. Angel Studios is projecting a $15–20 million four-day opening, leaning on the patriotic timing and a grassroots ticket-preorder campaign urging audiences to “make this the No. 1 movie in America” on the nation’s 250th birthday. The release positions the studio as patriotic counter-programming against the family-animation of Minions & Monsters.
A24 Returns Backrooms to Theaters with 16 Extra Minutes as Backrooms: Everything Must Go
A24 returned Backrooms to theaters Friday under the expanded title Backrooms: Everything Must Go, adding 16 minutes of new footage and bringing the runtime to 2 hours and 6 minutes. The re-release is a bold ancillary play for A24’s biggest domestic hit, which earned $184 million in North America on a $10 million production budget. Director Kane Parsons, who is 20 years old, adapted his own YouTube horror series for the big screen. The new cut adds lore and Easter eggs for repeat viewers, capitalizing on the July 4 holiday corridor and the film’s sustained Gen Z fanbase.
YouTube Horror Series The Mandela Catalogue Lands at Spielberg’s Amblin and Amazon MGM After 11-Studio Bidding War
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, Amazon MGM Studios, and United Artists won the film rights to YouTube analog-horror series The Mandela Catalogue in a competitive 11-studio bidding war, according to Deadline. Creator Alex Kister will direct the feature adaptation from a screenplay he co-wrote with Tyler Clifton; Spielberg and Holly Bario produce alongside Aaron B. Koontz and Scott Stuber. The deal follows theatrical breakouts from YouTube-origin genre films Obsession and Backrooms, which together grossed over $700 million worldwide, accelerating studios’ appetite for creator-native IP. The Mandela Catalogue has amassed more than 100 million views on YouTube.
Emmy Nominations Drop July 8: Netflix Projects 124 Nods, Pluribus and The Pitt Lead Programs
Emmy nominations for the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced Wednesday, July 8 at 11:30 a.m. ET, with final-round predictions from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter projecting Netflix to lead all distributors with 124 nominations. Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama Pluribus is forecast to top all individual programs with 22 nominations, ahead of HBO Max’s The Pitt at 21 and Netflix’s Beef Season 2 at 17. Returning HBO Max comedy Hacks and first-year contender Widow’s Bay are also projected for breakout Emmy showings, with the announcement just five days away.
Project Hail Mary Arrives on Prime Video Today, 105 Days After $340M Domestic Theatrical Run
Project Hail Mary, the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi adventure that grossed $340 million domestically in theaters, began streaming on Prime Video today, exactly 105 days after its theatrical debut. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and adapted from Andy Weir’s bestselling novel, the film follows astronaut Ryland Grace on a solo mission to prevent an extinction-level solar event. The Prime Video arrival follows an exclusive window on MGM+. Amazon MGM Studios timed the streaming premiere to the Fourth of July holiday weekend, positioning the acclaimed sci-fi adventure as a high-profile tentpole event for subscribers.
Wednesday Producer Tommy Harper Wants His AI Platform VeYou to Become the HBO of Vertical Video
Tommy Harper, executive producer of Netflix’s Wednesday and the film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, launched AI-powered microdrama platform VeYou in April and told Deadline he aims to make it “the HBO of vertical.” Harper described the category as “TV in your pocket with a global passport” and compared the current moment to “Spotify in 2008.” Lead investor is S32, the Silicon Valley venture firm founded by Bill Maris of Google Ventures, with per-series budgets ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. The platform’s latest title, Rival Hearts, is a soccer romance created with Rivr Films, owned by Cleveland Browns owner Dee Haslam.
Box Office — Currently in Theatres
| # | Title | Release Date | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minions & Monsters | July 1 | est. $65M | est. $80M |
| 2 | Toy Story 5 | June 19 | est. $37M | est. $334M |
| 3 | Supergirl | June 26 | est. $15M | est. $62M |
| 4 | Young Washington | July 3 | est. $14M | est. $14M |
| 5 | Backrooms: Everything Must Go | July 3* | est. $9M | est. $194M |
| 6 | Obsession | May 8 | est. $5M | est. $241M |
| 7 | Disclosure Day | June 12 | est. $4M | est. $99M |
| 8 | Jackass: Best and Last | June 26 | est. $3M | est. $12M |
| 9 | Scary Movie | June 5 | est. $1.8M | est. $106M |
| 10 | BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War | June 26 | est. $1.5M | est. $5M |
| 11 | Masters of the Universe | June 5 | est. $1.2M | est. $64M |
| 12 | Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu | May 22 | est. $0.8M | est. $176M |
| 13 | Michael | Apr. 17 | est. $0.6M | est. $371M |
| 14 | Leviticus | June 19 | est. $0.5M | est. $6M |
| 15 | Lucky Strike | June 26 | est. $0.4M | est. $1.3M |
| 16 | The Death of Robin Hood | June 19 | est. $0.3M | est. $5.2M |
| 17 | The Breadwinner | May 29 | est. $0.2M | est. $20.4M |
| 18 | The Invite | June 26 | est. $0.2M | est. $0.7M |
| 19 | Girls Like Girls | June 19 | est. $0.15M | est. $2.8M |
| 20 | The Furious | June 12 | est. $0.15M | est. $6.4M |
Source: Box Office Mojo · Weekend estimates · July 3–6, 2026 · *Re-release
Curated by JD · samwise.agency