Latest / Studio Signal / Studio Signal — Week Ahead, Sunday, May 10, 2026
Transcript
- Good morning, I'm Kai Rivers and this is Studio Signal — the week ahead edition, brought to you by Harkins Capital. Let's get into what's moving the business of entertainment. Alright, before we look ahead, we have to talk about the weekend, because Miranda Priestly is officially printing money. That's all. "The Devil Wears Prada 2" absolutely dominated the Mother's Day weekend box office. In just its second weekend, the sequel pulled in another forty-three million dollars domestically, pushing its global total to a massive four hundred and thirty-three million. To put that in perspective, it's already blown past the entire lifetime gross of the original 2006 movie. This is a monster hit for Disney and a clear signal that the appetite for this IP is stronger than ever. Meanwhile, Sony’s latest financial report is giving us a masterclass in portfolio strategy. While the company is taking hits from the shutdown of its VFX house Pixomondo and some ongoing struggles at gaming studio Bungie, its anime division is absolutely crushing it. According to Cartoon Brew, the explosive growth in anime is helping offset those other losses, proving just how critical a diverse content library is for a media giant. When one division is under pressure, another one can step up and carry the weight. And in a story that feels like it’s straight out of a writers’ room, actress Q'orianka Kilcher is suing James Cameron over ‘Avatar,’ claiming the chin of the character Neytiri was based on her digital likeness. Cameron's camp is calling the lawsuit "frivolous," but as IndieWire points out, it raises some massive, very real questions about AI, intellectual property, and who owns a digital face. This is a legal and ethical can of worms that the entire industry is going to have to deal with as technology gets more and more sophisticated. Okay, let's turn to the week ahead. And it all kicks off tomorrow morning, Monday, May eleventh, with earnings from Fox Corporation. The big question for Fox is whether its streaming initiatives, particularly the growth at its ad-supported platform Tubi, can show enough momentum to offset what’s expected to be a seasonally softer quarter for traditional ad revenue. Wall Street will be watching closely to see how the company is positioned heading into a huge summer with the FIFA World Cup. Also on Monday, we'll get numbers from Webtoon Entertainment. Then the rest of the week is all about one thing: the Upfronts. This is the annual dog-and-pony show where the major broadcast and cable networks present their upcoming programming slates to advertisers in New York. On Monday, we'll see presentations from NBC and Fox. This is where billions of dollars in ad commitments are made, and it gives us a real-time look at how the legacy media players are valuing their content and where they see the future of linear television heading in a streaming-first world. On the content side, the calendar is a little lighter this week as studios give "Prada" some breathing room. But we do have a few notable drops. On Wednesday, Prime Video is releasing the third season of "Good Omens." And on Thursday, FX premieres the fifth season of "Welcome to Wrexham." Both are established, fan-favorite shows that will be looking to cut through the noise and drive engagement for their respective platforms. Finally, in London, the Media Production and Technology Show kicks off on Wednesday. It’s a key event for the tech side of the industry, and we’ll be watching for any announcements around new production workflows, virtual production advancements, and of course, how AI is being integrated into the content creation pipeline. You know, keeping tabs on everything from box office hits to earnings calls to tech conferences is exactly what we do here. If you want this level of M&E intelligence every single morning, you should head over to studiosignal-dot-app. The first one thousand users get their first month of Pro completely free, just use the promo code STUDIO at checkout. So, the key questions I’m asking heading into this week are: Can Fox convince Wall Street that its streaming strategy is strong enough to power future growth? And as the Upfronts begin, what will the networks’ big programming swings tell us about their confidence in the future of traditional television? That's your signal for the week ahead. I'm Kai Rivers — rest up, because it is going to be a big one. I'll see you tomorrow morning.