Thursday: Warner's Streaming Gains; Blumhouse Tests Out Texting During Movies; Mubi Inks Production Deal; Noah Baumbach Shooting For Awards; Bloody Disgusting Expands

It's Thursday, May 8th. Here's what you need to know.

🎥 Today's Headlines

Warner Bros. Discovery saw strong streaming gains and $339M in profit despite a 10% revenue drop and $500M net loss in Q1. Film performance rebounded in Q2, with CEO David Zaslav emphasizing hit shows and continued global expansion. (Source: Deadline)

Blumhouse has teamed up with Meta to debut Movie Mate, a chatbot that encourages phone use during films by offering synced trivia and commentary—tested during a one-night rerelease of M3GAN. Aimed at younger audiences and struggling box office numbers, the experiment challenges the long-standing theater taboo against screen use. (Source: The New York Times)

Mubi has entered a major three-year co-production, financing, and distribution agreement with Our Films, the Rome-based company launched by producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli. The first project from this partnership will be a new film by Oscar-winning director Paweł Pawlikowski. (Source: Variety)

Noah Baumbach’s new film Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler, will premiere in theaters on Nov. 14 ahead of its Dec. 5 streaming debut on Netflix. Co-written with Emily Mortimer, the film follows Netflix’s awards-season strategy and features an ensemble cast including Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, and Greta Gerwig. (Source: Variety)

Cineverse has expanded leadership at its horror division, Bloody Disgusting, promoting John Squires and Meagan Navarro to Co-Managing Directors and naming Michael Roffman Executive Director of Ad Sales and New Business Development. The moves support the brand’s continued growth across editorial, streaming, and theatrical releases like Terrifier 3 and The Toxic Avenger. (Source: PR Newswire)

💰 Box Office Rankings

Tuesday - May 6th
1) Thunderbolts* - $7,463,926
2) Sinners - $4,171,202
3) The Accountant 2 - $1,293,258
4) A Minecraft Movie - $962,148
5) Until Dawn - $555,060
Source: Box Office Mojo

🎬 MNP Studio Index

Thursday, May 8th (Market Close)
📈 UP 1.38%
Summary: Outstanding day for the index.
Notable: Disney and Warners Brothers Discovery led the charge.
Biggest loser: Sony closed down sharply (-2.26%).
Biggest gainer: WBD roared today on good earnings numbers, closing up 5.32%.

📱MNP Streaming Index

Thursday, May 8th (Market Close)
📈 UP 1.35%
Summary: The Streaming Index was up 1.35%.
Notable: Warners posted solid streaming results, helping to lift the entire index today.
Biggest loser: Netflix closed off (-0.95%)
Biggest gainer: Warners was up 5%.

🍿MNP Theater Index

Thursday, May 8th (Market Close)
📈 UP 0.45%
Summary: Flat day for theater stocks.
Notable: Analysts are mixed on the potential for summer blockbusters.
Biggest loser: Cinemark closed down (-0.51%)
Biggest gainer: Dolby, up 2.1%.

🎟️ Film Festivals & Conferences

Today:

• IndieLisboa Film Festival, Portugal – May 1–11
• UK Asian Film Festival, UK – May 1–11
• Doc’n Roll Brooklyn, US – May 5–10
• Cine International Film Festival, UK – May 7–10
• DocsBarcelona, Spain – May 8–18

Upcoming:

• HipHop CineFest, Italy – May 9–10
• Cannes Film Festival, France – May 13–24
• Marché du Film, France – May 13–21
• Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, US – May 14–18
• Harlem International Film Festival, US – May 15–18
• Ridgefield Independent Film Festival, US – May 15–18
• Seattle International Film Festival, US – May 15–25

📺 Watch This Tonight

Cast Away (2000), Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Tom Hanks' best? Discuss.

📢 Disclaimer/Transparency
MovieNewsPro is a film industry news monitoring service. All stories have been previously reported elsewhere and are not exclusive stories to MNP. All information is believed to be accurate at the time of reporting. MovieNewsPro uses a full array of technology to gather information, including machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence throughout its business monitoring, editing and reporting process. MovieNewsPro sector indexes (Streaming, Studio and Theater) are virtual indexes - there are no actual funds invested. Sector index total value dollar amounts are based on an initial hypothetical investment of $100,000 on March 17th, 2025. We are not licensed investment advisors and our information should not be used as investment advice.