Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Friday, October 2, 2026
Verity Eyes $30M-Plus Opening as Tom Cruise’s Digger Braces for a Soft Start
Amazon MGM Studios’ Verity, the Colleen Hoover thriller starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett, is looking at $30 million-plus domestically at 3,510 theaters this weekend, plus $20M–$25M from 70 offshore territories for a $50M–$55M global start, Deadline reports. Warner Bros/Legendary’s Digger, the Tom Cruise satire directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, could post one of Cruise’s lowest wide openings of the millennium. Warners believes it can reach $12M–$15M at 3,300 theaters, while others doubt it breaks $10M. Global marketing spend on Digger is approaching $100 million, and Warners is leaning into the controversy with a final “Decide for yourself” spot.
Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to Exit Warner Bros. After Paramount Merger Closes
Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will not be part of David Ellison’s management team once the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery closes, multiple sources told Variety. The $110 billion deal is expected to be finalized on Oct. 6. Paramount film heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein are reported to oversee both movie studios, which will each release 30 movies a year under the provisions of the deal. It is unclear whether De Luca and Abdy will remain for a transitionary period. The news comes almost a year after their contracts were renewed following hits including Sinners, A Minecraft Movie and Weapons.
Bachelor Producers Challenge Marketing for Chris Harrison’s Fox Nation Dating Show
Warner Bros. TV, which produces The Bachelor, sent Fox Nation a cease-and-desist letter on Sept. 18 claiming promos for The Vow, hosted by former Bachelor host Chris Harrison, ride on the coattails of its franchise, Variety reports. The letter calls out red roses in the teaser and a thumbnail featuring a mansion meant to evoke the “Bachelor Mansion.” Fox Nation replied on Sept. 24 that WBTV holds no rights over a falling-roses motif and called the move “malicious and vindictive.” WBTV said it has no objection to a Harrison-hosted dating show itself, only to its promotion. The Vow premieres Nov. 11 with six weekly episodes.
Theaters Spent $2.7 Billion on Refurbishments Over Two Years, Cinema United Reports
North American theaters have spent $2.7 billion on refurbishments over the past two years, according to the annual report from trade group Cinema United, TheWrap reports. The top eight chains account for $1.8 billion of that capital expenditure, and $1.2 billion came in the past 12 months. Upgrades range from new sound systems, averaging $58,000 per auditorium, to entertainment centers that cost roughly $45 million to build. The domestic box office has hit $7 billion year-to-date, with a projected annual total of $10.5 billion. Several theater owners said they prioritized sound and picture upgrades so Disney could promote their locations under its Infinity Vision campaign for Avengers: Doomsday.
Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Trailer Introduces Brian Cox and Dan Stevens as New Killers
The official trailer for Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 is out ahead of the show’s return to Paramount+ on Oct. 30, Deadline reports. Michael C. Hall’s Dexter Morgan is having a midlife crisis as two new killers arrive: Brian Cox as The New York Ripper Don Frampt, who terrorized the city years ago, and Dan Stevens as Owen Stark, the Five Borough Killer. The season from showrunner Clyde Phillips also features Gabriel Luna as Ray Ballard, known as The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger. Krysten Ritter is returning in an as-yet-unknown capacity, Desmond Harrington has been upped to series regular, and newcomers include Bokeem Woodbine and Nona Parker Johnson.
Neon Releases First Trailer for Clarissa, a Lagos-Set Take on Mrs. Dalloway
Neon has released the first trailer for Clarissa, the second feature from Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, ahead of its U.S. release on Dec. 11, Deadline reports. Shot on 35mm film in Nigeria, the film is a loose adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, following a high-society woman preparing to host a party at her home in Lagos, where she unexpectedly encounters once-intimate friends from her youth. Sophie Okonedo and India Amarteifio play the title character at different ages, with David Oyelowo, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Ayo Edebiri also starring. The filmmakers’ debut, Eyimofe, premiered in Berlin and won five African Movie Academy Awards.
Alex Gibney Responds to Lawsuit Threat as Musk Documentary Nears Theatrical Release
Director Alex Gibney told Deadline the threat of a defamation suit from Elon Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro over his documentary Musk is a concern, but that a suit would open Musk to discovery. The threat relates to a sequence in which Musk’s former girlfriend Ashley St. Clair says Musk told her before election day that he would “unleash an anomaly in the matrix.” Gibney said the film shows Musk’s texts to St. Clair and does not say he manipulated the election. Bleecker Street opens the documentary in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 9 before expanding nationwide, following its premieres in Venice and Toronto.
| # | Title | Weekend | Total | Wks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avengers Endgame: Encore (2026 Re-release) Walt Disney Studios | $26,106,643 | $26,106,643 | 1 |
| 2 | Resident Evil Columbia Pictures | $23,012,848 | $103,189,095 | 2 |
| 3 | Heart of the Beast Paramount Pictures | $20,042,473 | $20,042,473 | 1 |
| 4 | Primetime A24 | $19,197,764 | $19,197,764 | 1 |
| 5 | Forgotten Island DreamWorks | $13,007,005 | $13,007,005 | 1 |
| 6 | Practical Magic 2 Warner Bros. | $5,600,274 | $59,762,967 | 3 |
| 7 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day Sony Pictures Releasing | $4,054,489 | $950,637,311 | 9 |
| 8 | The Odyssey Universal Pictures | $3,802,065 | $616,623,710 | 11 |
| 9 | Coyote vs. Acme Ketchup Entertainment | $1,915,685 | $58,393,726 | 5 |
| 10 | Daniel and the Fiery Furnace EKKL Entertainment | $1,540,161 | $6,229,247 | 2 |
| 11 | Princess Mononoke (Studio Ghibli Fest 2026) Fathom Events | $847,515 | $847,515 | 1 |
| 12 | Runner — | $798,889 | $13,830,071 | 3 |
| 13 | Insidious: Out of the Further Sony Pictures Releasing | $735,312 | $65,173,475 | 6 |
| 14 | Buddy Roadside Attractions | $697,411 | $26,359,915 | 5 |
| 15 | Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom GKIDS | $418,370 | $2,820,170 | 2 |
| 16 | The Paradise Prathyangira Cinemas | $407,343 | $2,039,287 | 1 |
| 17 | The History of Concrete — | $384,059 | $545,280 | 2 |
| 18 | Hanuman Ansh Prathyangira Cinemas | $301,304 | $2,332,308 | 3 |
| 19 | PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie Paramount Pictures | $239,182 | $52,902,179 | 7 |
| 20 | Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! Sony Pictures Classics | $219,700 | $219,700 | 1 |
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency