"Atlas" has 60M views / Amazon buys MX Player assets / Netflix NHL docuseries / Tyler Perry's "Straw"

Plus today's calendar, "Beavis and Butt-Head" to cable, "Damsel" hits Netflix Top 10, "Last of Us" S2 details, Cotillard joins "Morning Show," and more

Inside Streaming For June 06, 2024

Thanks for opening today's Inside Streaming daily brief! Paramount+ producing a new "Beavis and Butt-head" show for their streaming service, then shifting it back over to cable, feels like a weird milestone moment in some ways. Big media companies have now been forced to face the reality that they jumped into streaming too quickly, and have started pulling back on the reins. There really wasn't ever a great reason to produce a new "Beavis and Butt-head" show exclusively for a streaming platform. Those boys were born on cable TV. That's their home. And putting them on cable allows you to endlessly re-run their adventures stuffed full of lucrative ad breaks. It'd be fascinating to explore an alternate reality where studios took a more measured and strategic approach to streaming, rather than just dumping all of their resources into it at once in a desperation play to beat back Netflix. Sadly, we'll never know what that would've looked like. Lon p/lon-harris

1 According to Netflix's internal figures, the Jennifer Lopez sci-fi action film "Atlas" already has close to 60 million views worldwide. "Atlas" has been the #1 trending film on Netflix worldwide for the past two weeks. More: So far, the movie has been viewed for around 119.4 million hours. This is Lopez's fourth hit film on streaming services in just the past two years; she also starred in Netflix's smash hit "The Mother" and Prime Video's "Shotgun Wedding" and "This is Me Now: A Love Story." Lopez recently cancelled a planned summer concert tour, purportedly to spend time with her "chidlren, family and close friends," though there were also reports of disappointing ticket sales. "The Mother" was Netflix's most-watched original film of 2023.

2 Amazon purchased key assets from the Indian streaming service MX Player. The deal values MX Player at under $100 million. More: During its last round of fundraising, MX Player was valued at $500 million. Amazon is acquiring many key assets held by MX Player, and several of the company's top executives will also move over; it is not taking over the entire company. Local media conglomerate Times Internet owns MX Player, while Chinese giant Tencent is a key backer.

3 DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, JUNE 6 CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paramount+'s revival of the CBS procedural drama series is back for a second season, as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) continues investigating an underground network of serial killers. Joe Mantegna, AJ Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster co-star. The series has already been renewed for Season 3. [Paramount+] SWEET TOOTH: The fantasy drama series -- based on the Vertigo comic books by Jeff Lemire -- returns this week for a third and final season. A decade after a viral pandemic triggered the collapse of civiliation, and introduced a new strain of mutated humans with animal body parts, a half-human half-deer boy (Christian Convery) embarks on a quest to find his mother. Nonso Anozie, Stefania LaVie Owen, Naledi Murray, Amy Seimetz, and Kelly Marie Tran co-star; Jim Mickle ("Hap and Leonard") showruns. [Netflix] BAKI HANMA VS KENGAN ASHURA: 2024 Japanese anime feature, crossing over characters from the "Baki Hanma" and "Kengan Ashura" franchises for the ultimate martial arts showdown. "Baki Hanma" vet Toshiki Hirano directs. [Netflix] KÜBRA: Fantasy thriller from Turkey starring Çagatay Ulusoy as a lonely man who begins receiving strange messages on an online friendship platform, from a user who seems to have impossible knowledge of future events. [Netflix] NELMA KODANA: THE QUEEN OF DIRTY MONEY: True crime documentary from Brazil profiling the black market currency trader, who played a major role in the country's infamous "Operation Car Wash" corruption scandal. Kodana participated in the film and relates her own story. [Netflix] BASMA: 2024 Arabic-language drama feature from first-time Saudi writer/director Fatima Al-Banawi. She also stars as a woman who's been studying abroad in the US, but returns home to Jeddah during a family crisis. [Netflix] RAFA MÁRQUEZ: EL CAPITÁN: Spanish-language documentary profile of the famed Mexican football player and coach, in which he looks back on his life and career, and muses on "dreams, detours, and determination." [Netflix] COUNSEL CULTURE: Debut panel discussion show, based on the podcast of the same name, in which host Nick Cannon and a rotating group of guests discuss important issues surrounding male mental health, including grief, loyalty, money concerns, marriage, trust, and showing vulnerability. Therapist Dr. Mike Dow and psychiatrist Dr. Ish Major also make appearances. [Prime Video] PERFECT DAYS: 2023 Japanese drama feature from co-writer/director Wim Wenders ("Paris, Texas"), tracking the tranquil daily routine and unexpected encounters of a public toilet cleaner (Koji Yakusho) in Tokyo. The film was nominated this year for Best International Feature at the Oscars. [Hulu] JUNGLE BUNCH: OPERATION MELTDOWN: 2023 French animated comedy adventure film, spun off from the "Jungle Bunch" TV series, which has been dubbed into English for US audiences. A group of animal pals must save the jungle from a mysterious villain, who has covered it in a toxic pink foam. [Hulu] AM I OK? 2024 comedy-drama feature starring Dakota Johnson as a single woman who realizes that she's a lesbian at age 32, and seeks help adjusting to her new lifestyle from a lifelong best friend (Sonoya Mizuno). Jermaine Fowler, Kiersey Clemons, and Molly Gordon co-star; Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne co-directed in their feature debuts. [Max]

4 A new National Hockey League (NHL) behind-the-scenes docuseries from "Drive to Survive" studio Box to Box Films will stream on Amazon Prime Video. The series will feature players and captains from the Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, Toronto Maple Leafs, and other teams. More: NHL Productions is collaborating on the series and promises "unprecedented access" to top stars. Production crews have been embedded with the Panthers and Oilers and will follow their teammates and fans throughout the season. Prime Video already holds exclusive NHL streaming rights in Canada.

5 Tyler Perry will write and direct the drama feature "Straw" for Netflix. The film centers on a single mother who becomes entangled in a mysterious and deadly conspiracy. More: Taraji P. Henson, Sherri Shepherd, and Teyana Taylor grabbed the lead roles; Glynn Turman, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, and Mike Merrill will co-star. Perry has a multi-year overall deal to develop both shows and films for Netflix; he's also currently working on the WWII drama "Six Triple Eight" and the drama series "Beauty in Black." Recent Perry releases for Netflix include the suspense drama "Mea Culpa," the courtroom thriller "Fall From Grace," and the romantic period drama "A Jazzman's Blues."

6 MTV Entertainment Studios renewed the "Beavis and Butt-Head" revival series for a third season. The show originally streamed as a Paramount+ original, but the third season will premiere on the Comedy Central cable network. More: The first two seasons are currently available to stream on Paramount+; Season 2 makes its Comedy Central premiere on July 10. New episodes are scheduled to debut in 2025. Comedy Central will also air the Paramount+ original movie "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe," which leads into the new episodes, on July 3. "Beavis and Butt-Head" originally appeared in creator Mike Judge's 1992 short film "Frog Baseball," which was featured on MTV's classic animation anthology series, "Liquid Television"; the duo got their own show in 1993.

7 The fantasy action film "Damsel" now ranks #8 on Netflix's Top 10 Most Popular English-language Films list. The movie has 137.2 million views after 87 days online. More: After debuting on March 8, "Damsel" speent 6 weeks on Netflix's Top 10 global films list; it hit the Top 10 in 93 countries. The film had the best week of viewership on Netflix of any movie since 2022's "Knives Out" sequel, "Glass Onion." Netflix reports that the film had 1.3 billion impressions across social media. "Stranger Things" vet Millie Bobby Brown stars as a young woman who agrees to marry a handsome prince, then discovers the royal family plans to sacrifice her to a dragon.

8 QUICK HITS Season 2 of HBO's "The Last of Us" will run for just 7 episodes, making it shorter than Season 1; showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann still suggest the season is "quite big" and look ahead at a "significantly larger" Season 3. Marion Cotillard joined the cast of Apple's "The Morning Show" ahead of its fourth season; she'll play a European heirness named Celine Dumont. Season 27 of NBC's "The Voice" will feature a new line-up of coaches and mentors, including Michael Bublé, John Legend, returning veteran Adam Levine, and first-timer Kelsea Ballerini. The DreamWorks Animation theatrical hit "Kung Fu Panda 4" comes to Peacock on June 21. Toni Collette joined the cast of the Netflix limited thriller series "Wayward," about a generational conflict in a "bucolic but sinister town"; Mae Martin, Sarah Gadon, Brandon Jay McLaren, and Patrick Gallagher co-star. YouTube added new age restrictions for certain videos dealing with homemade firearms and accessories. "Supernatural" and "The Boys" vet Jensen Ackles will star in "Countdown," a new Prime Video thriller series from "One Chicago" vet Derek Haas; Ackles plays an LAPD officer who joins a secret task force investigating a sinister conspiracy. German-language teen romance "Maxton Hall - The World Between Us" is now the most-watched international series on Prime Video history, according to Amazon's internal figures; the pilot episode is available to stream for free on YouTube through June 18. Showrunner Rob Thomas ("Veronica Mars") exited ABC's "High Potential," set to star Kaitlin Olson as a single mom with an uncanny knack for solving crimes; production has temporarily halted on the show as a replacement is found. Steve Zahn will co-star alongside Glen Powell in the Hulu sports comedy series "Chad Powers"; the show is based on a character originally created by Eli Manning for his ESPN+ docuseries. CW canceled the sports drama spinoff series "All American: Homecoming"; the third and final season premieres on July 8. Four actors joined the cast of Rachel Sennott's HBO comedy pilot, including Odessa A'zion, Miles Robbins, True Whitaker, and Jordan Firstman; the still-untilted project is about a co-dependent group of friends that reunites after some time apart. The new US cable network MeTV Toons -- which runs classic animated shorts around the clock -- will stream via both Frndly TV and Philo at launch. While discussing his new Apple series, "Presumed Innocent," Jake Gyllenhaal expressed excitement for Amazon's "Road House 2," promising that it will be "expansive" and "bigger" than the first film.

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Lon Harris Writer Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." This newsletter was edited by Lon Harris

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