Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Wins Fourth Straight Weekend With $39M; Insidious Sequel Opens at $25M
Spider-Man: Brand New Day won its fourth straight domestic No. 1 with $39 million from 4,006 theaters (Aug. 21–23), lifting its U.S. cumulative to $854.9 million—No. 3 on the all-time domestic chart. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey held third for Universal with $19.5 million in week six ($539 million domestic). Sony/Screen Gems’ Insidious: Out of the Further debuted second with $25.3 million from 3,303 theaters. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie held fourth at $9.1 million; The End of Oak Street (Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor) followed fifth at $9 million. Jason Statham’s Mutiny opened sixth at $7.5 million.
Taylor Swift Campaigns at Emmy Voter Screening for Eras Tour Disney+ Special
Taylor Swift attended an Emmy voter event at Ross House in Los Angeles on Aug. 24, campaigning for “The Eras Tour: The Final Show”—a Disney+ concert special documenting the closing night of her Eras Tour. The special carries five Emmy nominations, including Best Variety Special (Pre-Recorded). Swift appeared alongside director Glenn Weiss and sound designer John Ross at the voter screening to court Television Academy votes before the Emmy voting deadline of Aug. 26. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards are scheduled for Sept. 5–6, with the Primetime ceremony on Sept. 14.
Rockstar and Netflix Announce GTA 6 Extended Look to Stream Exclusively on Netflix Before YouTube Release
Rockstar Games and Netflix announced a “first-of-its-kind partnership” in which a new extended look at Grand Theft Auto VI will premiere exclusively on Netflix on Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. ET. The content will then be released to YouTube and social media at 9 p.m. ET the same day, giving Netflix a six-hour exclusive window. The move is part of a broader marketing campaign for GTA 6, which launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on Nov. 19 at $79.99. Previous GTA 6 trailers generated 288 million and 176 million YouTube views, respectively.
Domestic Box Office Crosses $7 Billion Year-to-Date, Running 20% Ahead of 2025 Pace
The domestic box office crossed the $7 billion year-to-date mark through Aug. 23, 2026, running 20.4% above the same period in 2025, according to Deadline. The industry stood at the same threshold domestically at an equivalent date in 2019. The current pace projects a full-year domestic total of $10.6 billion. Summer 2026 ticket sales from May 1 through Aug. 16 reached $4.24 billion—up 23% year-over-year—marking only the second post-COVID summer to reach that level, per Variety. The summer was powered by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, Obsession, and Backrooms.
Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Splits Exhibition Industry; Paramount Offers Regal 30-Film Annual Commitment
A proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount is dividing the exhibition industry. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron and Regal CEO Eduardo Acuna back the deal, while Cinema United—the main U.S. exhibition lobbying group led by president Michael O’Leary—has opposed it, citing risks of reduced theatrical output. Paramount has offered Regal a written commitment of 30 films annually for three years with a 45-day exclusive theatrical window and a 90-day window before streaming. Cinema United subsequently reversed course, calling for settlement talks with David Ellison and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Box Office — Currently in Theatres
| # | Title | Release Date | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day | Jul 31 | $39.0M | $854.9M |
| 2 | Insidious: Out of the Further | Aug 21 | $25.3M | $25.3M |
| 3 | The Odyssey | Jul 17 | $19.5M | $539.1M |
| 4 | PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie | Aug 14 | $9.1M | $35.4M |
| 5 | The End of Oak Street | Aug 14 | $9.0M | $38.0M |
| 6 | Mutiny | Aug 21 | $7.5M | $7.5M |
| 7 | Tony | Aug 7 | $5.0M | $6.7M |
| 8 | Spa Weekend | Aug 21 | $3.1M | $3.1M |
| 9 | The Fast and the Furious | 2001 re-release | $3.1M | $148.3M |
| 10 | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma | Aug 7 | $1.9M | $3.7M |
| 11 | The Magic Faraway Tree | Aug 21 | $1.4M | $1.4M |
| 12 | Toy Story 5 | Jun 19 | $1.0M | $477.9M |
| 13 | Minions & Monsters | Jun 30 | $0.7M | $182.0M |
| 14 | The Brink of War | Aug 14 | $0.7M | $4.5M |
| 15 | Moana | Jul 10 | $0.5M | $125.7M |
| 16 | Six: The Musical Live! | Aug 14 | $0.4M | $4.5M |
| 17 | One Night Only | Aug 7 | $0.3M | $11.3M |
| 18 | The Rivals of Amziah King | Aug 14 | $0.3M | $1.8M |
| 19 | Hot Spot | Aug 21 | $0.3M | $0.3M |
| 20 | The Invite | Jun 26 | $0.2M | $25.5M |
Source: The Numbers · Weekend totals, Aug. 21–23, 2026
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency