Latest / Studio Signal / Studio Signal — Monday, April 27, 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 studio fam, it is Monday, April 27th, and we have to start with the story that completely owned the weekend. As we talked about yesterday, the Michael Jackson biopic, ‘Michael,’ was tracking for a massive opening, and it did not disappoint. The film pulled in a staggering two hundred and seventeen million dollars globally this weekend. And according to TheWrap, it's another case study, just like 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' that shows what fans want versus what critics want can be two wildly different things. The strategy was simple: play the hits, lean into the iconography, and the fans will absolutely show up. And it looks like there might be more to come. Director Antoine Fuqua told Billboard there’s "absolutely" enough footage for a potential sequel. But he also addressed the elephant in the room — the decision to leave out the abuse allegations against Jackson. Fuqua said the goal was to "humanize Michael" and "ground him." It’s a clear creative and commercial choice... focus on the music, not the controversy, and you get a two hundred million dollar opening weekend. It's a formula, and right now, that formula is working. From one massive corporate story to another... the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount merger is officially a go after shareholders approved it late last week. But not everyone is celebrating. When asked about it on his show, HBO’s own John Oliver had a very succinct, two-word reaction: “Fuck off.” TheWrap caught the moment, and honestly, it perfectly captures the anxiety a lot of the creative community feels about this deal. Even though the business logic might be there for Wall Street, the people actually making the content are clearly… skeptical. It’s a perfect reminder that even when a deal is done, winning over the hearts and minds inside the building is a whole other battle. And speaking of winning hearts and minds, HBO is reminding everyone what it does best. They just dropped the trailer and premiere date for the third season of ‘House of The Dragon.’ As we heard yesterday, the showrunners are promising a more brutal season with way more dragons, and the trailer definitely leans into that. For Warner Bros. Discovery, this show is everything. It’s their prestige, four-quadrant hit, and in the middle of all this merger chaos, keeping the hype train for their biggest I.P. running at full speed is priority number one. And quickly over on the streaming side, Hulu has set a June 4th premiere date for a new comedy series called 'Alice and Steve.' According to Deadline, it stars Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker and comes from Clerkenwell Films, the same producers behind the hit 'Baby Reindeer'. It shows the continued hunt for that smart, buzz-worthy comedy, and grabbing the producers of a recent smash hit is a pretty good place to start. It's a lot to keep track of, and if you want to stay ahead of all these moving pieces, we’re making it easy. The first one thousand users get their first month of Studio Signal Pro completely free. Just use the promo code STUDIO at checkout. Alright, let's take a quick look at the markets before we go. It’s a pretty solid start to the week for the M&E sector, with nineteen companies up and only eleven down. The top mover today is Cinemark, which is up over three percent. That's no surprise—a massive box office weekend for 'Michael' is great news for the theater chains. On the flip side, CoreWeave is the biggest loser today, down almost three percent. And we're seeing strong days for the gaming and development world, with Roblox up almost three percent, Unity up close to three percent, and Take-Two up about two and a half percent. That's your signal for today. I'm Kai Rivers — thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you tomorrow.