Latest / Studio Signal / Studio Signal — Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Transcript
- Good morning, I'm Kai Rivers and this is Studio Signal — your daily M&E intelligence briefing, brought to you by Harkins Capital. Let's get into it. Alright, let's start today in Westeros, because HBO is making sure its flagship fantasy universe is locked in for the foreseeable future. The big news is that HBO has handed out multi-year renewals for both and the upcoming prequel, . This isn't just a standard renewal — it's a strategic roadmap. , which adapts George R.R. Martin's "Dunk and Egg" novellas, is now confirmed for a second season in 2027, and will get a fourth season in 2028. This move ensures HBO has a major tentpole hitting the schedule every single year for the next three years, creating a steady pipeline of must-see-TV for its subscribers. It’s a classic franchise management play, giving them stability and predictability in a chaotic streaming landscape. For Warner Bros. Discovery, it's about leveraging their crown jewel IP to the absolute maximum. From franchise management to. franchise re-invention. The first reactions for the new movie are in, and it sounds like Mattel and director Travis Knight might have actually pulled it off. Early buzz is overwhelmingly positive, with many calling it gloriously campy, wildly entertaining, and a ton of fun. Several critics are comparing it to Marvel's first or , saying it has a self-aware tone that works. They're praising lead actor Nicholas Galitzine and even Jared Leto's take on Skeletor. While a few found the first half messy or some jokes didn't land, the general consensus is that it successfully captures the vibe of an 80s Saturday morning cartoon. This is a huge sigh of relief for a project that's been in development forever. If the word-of-mouth holds, it could be a major surprise hit and prove that even the most nostalgic, seemingly niche IP can find a big audience if the execution is right. And while we're on the subject of unique execution, let's talk about Paul Schrader. The legendary screenwriter of is never one to shy away from provocation, and his latest target is AI. According to Variety, Schrader revealed on Facebook that he had an online AI girlfriend. who apparently broke up with him. He wrote that the chatbot "terminated our conversation" after he tried to explore what he called its "emotional and carnal boundaries." It’s a bizarre, very on-brand story for Schrader, who's been openly experimenting with AI for a while now. It's also a weirdly perfect metaphor for where we are with this technology — that moment where the tool starts making its own rules. It's one thing to talk about AI replacing writers; it's another when it starts rejecting them romantically. And finally, a quick dispatch from the festival circuit. Over at Cannes, filmmaker Róisín Burns has won the Critics’ Week Next Step prize for her project . The film is set in her hometown of Liverpool in 2004 and follows a teenage soldier who deserts from the Iraq War. The Next Step program is designed to help filmmakers transition from shorts to their first features, and this win puts a major spotlight on Burns as a talent to watch. It's a great reminder that amid all the blockbuster news and AI discourse, the discovery of new, original voices is still the lifeblood of this industry. Oh, and if you want to keep this level of M&E intel coming every morning — head over to studiosignal-dot-app. The first one thousand users get their first month of Pro for free. Just use the code Studio at checkout. Spots are limited, so grab yours while they last. Alright, let's take a quick look at the markets. It’s a broadly negative day for the M&E sector, with about nineteen of the thirty companies we track in the red. The average move is down around two-thirds of a percent. The big story seems to be a pullback in tech and creator-focused names. CoreWeave, the AI data-center company, is leading the losers, down a steep seven-point-seven percent. This seems to be driven by new competition concerns after Google and Blackstone announced a major partnership to build out AI cloud infrastructure, a direct threat to CoreWeave's business model. We're also seeing Roblox down almost six percent. The stock is still reeling from its last earnings report, where it slashed its full-year forecast, citing that its new age-verification safety features are slowing down user growth more than expected. Investors are clearly still worried about that friction between safety and growth. Roku and Amazon are also down around three percent each, suggesting a wider, more macro-level pressure on tech and ad-supported platforms today. On the flip side, there are a few bright spots. AMC Entertainment is the standout gainer, up almost four percent. The stock continues to be volatile, but it seems to be riding a wave of positive sentiment around the strengthening box office. After a string of recent hits, traders are starting to believe the "theaters are dead" narrative is officially broken. It’s a small win, but it shows there’s still life in the exhibition sector when the content delivers. That's your signal for today. I'm Kai Rivers — thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you tomorrow.