The Paris Olympics draw mega television audiences, Will Lewis is haunted yet again by his past as a Rupert Murdoch lieutenant, authorities charge Huw Edwards, Kamala Harris' campaign blasts Elon Musk over A.I.-generated audio, Donald Trump lashes out at Fox News, TikTok faces Nazi troubles, "Dexter" returns from the dead, HBO teases "The Penguin," and so much more. But first, the A1. |
| | Marvel Recaptures Its Mojo |
CNN Photo Illustration/Marvel Studios |
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has roared back to life.
After suffering a years-long dry spell that had fans and industry observers wondering whether the lucrative franchise was destined for irreversible decline, Marvel Studios showed that it still has plenty more gasoline left in the tank.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" clawed through initial analyst expectations, delivering a monster $211 million jolt to the domestic box office. That made the threequel the biggest opening of 2024, the biggest opening ever for an R-rated film, and the sixth biggest opening of all-time. Internationally, the film grossed $443 million, all but ensuring it will easily sail past the $1 billion mark.
The film's massive success pushed Marvel past the $30 billion mark at the global office, making it the highest-grossing franchise of all-time.
Meanwhile, the box office success coincided with the Disney-owned studio making buzzy announcements at Comic-Con. The studio revealed to an electric crowd on Saturday night that the Russo Brothers will return to direct the next two "Avengers" films, due out in 2026 and 2027. And, in a stunning announcement, Robert Downey Jr. emerged onstage as Marvel unveiled the one-time "Iron Man" actor as the franchise's next big supervillain, Doctor Doom.
Suffice to say, by the weekend's end, Marvel was riding high.
The much-needed shot in the arm couldn't have come sooner for the studio, an important component of Disney's profit engine. While it had regularly churned out superhero-sized blockbusters, Marvel has not-so-secretly struggled since "Avengers: Endgame," the epic 2019 climax that was 22 films in the making. Since then, the studio has produced a string of movies that have failed to resonate with audiences and critics, such as "The Marvels," "Eternals," and "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania." On Disney+, outside "Loki," the Marvel shows by and large have failed to generate buzz and find footing in the cultural discourse.
In a way, Marvel acknowledged to its fans over the weekend that it had veered off the road. In "Deadpool & Wolverine," Ryan Reynolds' titular character joked that Wolverine was joining the MCU at a "low point." Later in the film, Deadpool also channeled audiences when he complained about the confusing nature of the multiverse and asked Marvel executives if they could put that storyline to bed. The move to bring back the Russo Brothers and Downey Jr. suggests that Bob Iger's Magic Kingdom has heard audiences loud and clear. Bringing the three back into the fold signals that the franchise is pivoting back to the fan-favorite ingredients that reliably delivered in the past. That said, returning to the past as a bet on future hits is also a tacit admission that the Marvel creative engine has faltered. It's certainly a smart temporary solution to get the MCU back on track. But what happens when Marvel doesn't have the Russo Brothers and Downey Jr. to lean on? Disney will eventually have to find an answer to that question. But, for now, Iger and his Marvel executives have bought themselves a few years of runway. |
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CNN Photo Illustration/Jamie Squire/Getty Images |
Podium-Worthy Numbers From Paris: The Paris Olympics are proving to be a big ratings hit for NBCU. The opening ceremony, which featured Celine Dion making her epic return to the stage, averaged 28.6 million viewers on Friday night. Remarkably, the viewership has since grown, not tapered off. On Saturday, an average of 32.4 million watched the primary telecasts across NBCU's linear and digital platforms. And on Sunday, an average of 41.5 million tuned in to see Simone Biles and the U.S. women's gymnastics team compete. Those are medal-worthy numbers for NBCU, which has been counting on the Olympics to boost its struggling Peacock streaming service. THR's Rick Porter has more here. |
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- It's not just NBC netting large audiences: "In just two days, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max and Discovery+ streaming services pulled in more unique viewers for the Paris Olympics than for the entire summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021," Elsa Keslassy reports. (Variety)
- YouTube boss Neal Mohan spoke to Josh Noble on the sidelines, boasting about the platform's numbers: "We've seen the growth of YouTube being watched, being consumed on television screens." (FT)
- Eurosport dropped commentator Bob Ballard after the sportscaster made sexist comments about the Australian women's swim team. (CNN)
- TASS, the Russian state-run outlet, said the International Olympics Committee revoked four of its reporters' credentials. (Reuters)
- Snoop Dogg is "the greatest thing to ever happen to the Olympics," declared RJ Ochoa. (SB Nation)
- Matt Stieb wrote about how "everyone hates" the Google Olympics advertisement for Gemini: "Not only does it imply to your kid that it's okay to offload writing assignments to A.I., it also suggests it's a good idea to let the computer express feelings for you." (Intelligencer)
- A scene from the Opening Ceremony featuring drag queens that evoked "The Last Supper" prompted organizers to apologize, though they insisted it was not meant to "denigrate anyone" and originated from the desire to "have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus." (USA Today)
- Sean Hannity said he isn't watching the Olympics while lashing out at "their trans opening." (MMFA)
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images |
Good Will Hunting: The Washington Post publisher and chief executive Will Lewis continues to be haunted by his past as a Rupert Murdoch lieutenant. On Monday, Murdoch's U.K. newspaper arm agreed in court to search for emails about a supposed "fake security threat" that Prince Harry and other plaintiffs suing the company alleged was used as an impetus to delete millions of emails relating to the phone hacking scandal. Lewis, of course, was a top executive at the Murdoch-owned company, brought in to help clean up the mess. Lewis has long denied any wrongdoing, though he has shown he is quite sensitive to questions on the topic. News Group Newspapers said the emails were not deleted as part of some "cover-up." Reuters has more. |
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- Huw Edwards, the former BBC anchor still on the broadcaster's payroll, was charged with making indecent images of children. (NYT)
- Clarissa Ward spoke to Tessa Stuart about the difficulties reporting on Gaza: "It's always hard. But this has actually been almost impossible." (Rolling Stone)
- Kamala Harris "has spent her last two years as vice president repairing a difficult relationship with the national media — an investment that paid off when her sudden ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket came with a wave of positive press coverage," Max Tani reported. (Semafor)
- Publishers, including Condé Nast and Reuters, are struggling to block relevant A.I. scrapers online as tech companies keep rolling out new bots, Jason Koebler reports. (404 Media)
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| - "BuzzFeed keeps attracting investors who are upset with BuzzFeed," Peter Kafka writes. (Business Insider)
- A select number of podcasters — including Alex Cooper, Trevor Noah, and Joe Rogan — are soaking up much of the audio money, Anne Steele reports. (WSJ)
- Earnings for television and film writers dropped $603 million, or 32%, in 2023 during the historic dual Hollywood strikes, the WGA said. (Variety)
- Lionsgate will eliminate its dual-class share structure. (THR)
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- Amazon MGM tapped Scott Stuber, the former Netflix film chief, to rejuvenate United Artists. (Variety)
- First in Reliable | Semafor hired Elana Schor as senior Washington editor. Schor will be directing the outlet's congressional coverage and working on events, per a note that Ben Smith sent to the newsroom.
- CNN named Ben Geldon executive producer of "Inside Politics with Dana Bash." (CNN)
- The NYT named Karen Zraick climate legal correspondent. (NYT)
- Mother Jones hired Anna Merlan to cover disinformation, extremism, and technology.
- Bloomberg Law hired Rebecca Klar as a reporter. (TBN)
- The FT named Arjun Neil Alim as a markets correspondent. (TBN)
- Correction: In the previous edition of this newsletter, we said Fox News Media had hired Katherine Moran as its new general counsel. It is, in fact, Katherine Moran Meeks. We regret the error.
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CNN Photo Illustration/Marc Piasecki/Getty Images |
Musk and Manipulation: The Kamala Harris campaign blasted Elon Musk on Monday after the X owner posted a video that included a fake, A.I.-generated voice of the candidate claiming to be the "ultimate diversity hire." Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement, "We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump." The posting of the video came after Musk publicly endorsed Trump, a move that has raised more fears that he will skew the platform further in favor of his chosen candidate. Musk himself defended posting the video. The Associated Press' Ali Swenson has more here. 🔎 Zooming in: The episode is the latest to raise questions about how to safeguard the electorate from deceptive A.I.-generated content. As the technology quickly advances, it will soon allow anyone to clone voices and produce misleading videos on a whim. Will major tech platforms be ready? |
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- It never stops with him! Elon Musk posted a video Monday that supposedly showed people stealing ballot boxes in Venezuela — but it actually shows people stealing air conditioning units. (Mediaite)
- Ryan Mac, Erin Griffith, and Mike Isaac reported on how the billionaire techies that made up the "PayPal Mafia" are "openly brawling with one another over politics as tensions rise." (NYT)
- Pete Souza deactivated his X account after facing backlash over a photo showing Donald Trump's ear. Some on the left had stoked conspiracies that Musk had removed his account. (The Hill)
- Though "Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade has defended J.D. Vance over his "childless cat ladies" remark, the Fox News star warned Vance that "when you're explaining, you're probably losing." (Daily Beast)
- Donald Trump lashed out at Fox News for airing a Kamala Harris rally: "We have to WIN WITHOUT FOX!" (Mediaite)
- Harris continues to be the target of far-right lines of attack. Charlie Kirk said she "seeks to kidnap" children "via the trans agenda," something he described as "pure, unadulterated Marxism." (MMFA)
- Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" has soared to the top of The NYT's bestseller list. (Mediaite)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Will Lanzoni |
TikTok's Nazi Troubles: It's not just Meta and X that are being exploited by extremist forces. A new study from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which was provided to WIRED's David Gilbert on Monday, found that the TikTok algorithm is promoting hate-based content to users. "The report from ISD details how hundreds of extremist TikTok accounts are openly posting videos promoting Holocaust denial and the glorification of Hitler and Nazi-era Germany, and suggesting that Nazi ideology is a solution to modern-day issues," Gilbert wrote. That's particularly concerning, given the volume of young users on the app. Gilbert has more here. ► TikTok's response: "Hateful behavior, organizations and their ideologies have no place on TikTok, and we remove more than 98 percent of this content before it is reported to us." |
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- Kate Conger had the must-read tech story of the weekend, chronicling all the ways in which Elon Musk has made Linda Yaccarino's job just about impossible. (NYT)
- The Justice Department alleged in court filings that TikTok collected data about U.S. users' views on hot-button political topics, including guns and abortion. (WSJ)
- Uh oh! Apple Intelligence will miss the launch of the company's new iPhone, Mark Gurman reports. (Bloomberg)
- Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, and other social media platforms are teaming up with publishers as the companies look to increase their digital advertising shares, Sahil Patel reports. (The Info)
- Threads boss Adam Mosseri reiterated — yet again — that the platform does not want to be a place for politics-focused news. "We're excited about real time sports and sports news, and really all news save political news," he wrote. (Threads)
- Twitch remains unprofitable a decade after being purchased by Amazon, Salvador Rodriguez, Sarah Needleman, and Sebastian Herrera report. (WSJ)
- The streaming platform, meanwhile, completed its revamp that places focus on a TikTok-like recommended feed. (The Verge)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Randy Tepper/Showtime |
'Dexter,' Back From the Dead: He's back! One of the world's most famous fictional serial killers is returning to television screens. The "Dexter" team announced at Comic-Con that Michael C. Hall will resurrect his titular role for a new sequel series, "Dexter: Resurrection," debuting in 2025. "We are thrilled to have the brilliant Michael C. Hall reprise his iconic role as Dexter Morgan in Showtime's most successful series ever," Paramount co-chief executive Chris McCarthy said. Of course, the big question will be how it's possible for Dexter to return, given that he appeared to die in the last scene audiences saw him in. Variety's Emily Longeretta has more here. |
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- Amazon ordered a prequel of "The Boys" starring Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash. (THR)
- HBO dropped the official trailer for "The Penguin." (YouTube)
- Justin Simien and Tawny Newsome are working on a new live-action "Star Trek" series for Paramount+. (THR)
- And Jennifer Garner got stuck at an elevator for more than an hour at Comic-Con. (CNN)
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| - Taylor Swift thanked the tens of thousands of people who gathered in Munich on a hilltop outside Olympic Stadium to watch her sold-out "Eras Tour." (Variety)
- ABC ordered a Tim Allen comedy series. (Deadline)
- FX ordered "Snowflakes," a new comedy series from former "Tonight Show" writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw. (Variety)
- Katy Perry said her new single "Lifetimes" will drop August 9. (Variety)
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Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow. |
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