Roku shares drop / Open letter on abortion rights / ABC News Studios launch / MrBeast hits 100M subs

Plus the weekend calendar, "Abbott Elementary" to HBO Max, "Squid Game" interactive experience, Amazon cancels "The Wilds," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network July 29, 2022

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Roku missed Wall Street projections for revenue in Q2. Shares tumbled by more than 25% in extended trading as the company warned of "recessionary fears." More: Roku reported 63.1 million active accounts at the end of Q2, and added 1.8 million during the quarter, besting analyst forecasts. Roku viewers streamed 20.7 billion hours in Q2, a decrease of 200 million hours vs. Q1. Roku's revenue hit $764.4 million, an 18% increase, but still lower than analyst estimates, which forecasted $805.2 million. In a letter to shareholders, Roku blamed the lapse on the current economic environment, which is prompting consumers to limit discretionary spending and advertisers to cut their marketing budgets. The company expects revenue to increase 3% year-over-year in Q3, hitting $700 million. VARIETY

Abortion rights rally in Indiana A group of more than 400 women writers and showrunners sent an open letter to the heads of major Hollywood studios on Friday, demanding more protective protocols for workers in states with anti-abortion legislatures. In addition to expressing "grave concerns" about a lack of current protocols in place, the group also demands that studios and their parent companies "discontinue all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees." More: The letter was sent to executives at Netflix, Amazon, AMC, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, and WB Discovery. Deadline obtained a copy that had been sent to Netflix. Signers include Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Schumer, Marta Kauffman, Callie Khouri, and WGA West officials Michele Mulroney and Betsy Thomas. DEADLINE

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WEEKEND CALENDAR FRIDAY, JULY 29 PAPER GIRLS: Debut sci-fi drama series, based on the comic books by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. The action centers on four paper delivery girls in the late 1980s who become enmeshed in a conflict between warring factions of time travelers. Sofia Rosinsky, Camryn Jones, Riley Lai Nelet, Fina Strazza, Ali Wong, and Nate Corddry co-star. [Amazon] SURFACE: 8-episode psychological thriller series from creator Veronica West ("High Fidelity," "Bull"), starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Sophie, a San Francisco woman recovering from a traumatic brain injury that left her with significant memory loss. As she begins to put the pieces of her life back together, Sophie starts suspecting that those closest to her have not been entirely truthful about their lives together. Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Stephan James, Ari Graynor, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste co-star. [Apple TV+] AMBER BROWN: First-year family comedy series -- based on the books by Paula Danziger -- about a precocious young girl (Carsyn Rose) doing her best to navigate her parents' divorce. Sarah Drew, Darin Brooks, Michael Yo, and Ashley Williams co-star. [Apple TV+] HONOR SOCIETY: Teen romantic comedy film starring Angourie Rice as an ambitious high school student with a fiendish plan to become valedictorian by using her feminine wiles to take out the competition. A complication arises when she develops a crush on her chief rival (Gaten Matarazzo). Oran Zegman makes her feature directorial debut with the film; David A. Goodman ("The Orville") scripted. [Paramount+] UNCOUPLED: 8-part romantic comedy series from creators Darren Star ("Emily in Paris") and Jeffrey Richman ("Modern Family"), starring Neil Patrick Harris as a newly-single gay man in his mid-40s who's tentatively re-entering the New York dating scene. Tisha Campbell, Brooks Ashmanskas, Emerson Brooks, and Marcia Gay Harden co-star. [Netflix] REBEL CHEER SQUAD: A GET EVEN SERIES: Teen thriller series from the UK, spun off from the show "Get Even." Both series are based on books by Gretchen McNeil, were adapted by Holly Phillips, and center on groups of students who team up to expose bullies at their school. Renee Bailey, Amelia Brooks, Lashay Anderson, Ashling O'Shea, and Elliott Wooster co-star. [Netflix] PURPLE HEARTS: Romantic drama feature about a struggling singer-songwriter (Sofia Carson) and a troubled Marine (Nicholas Galitzine) who get married quickly for the financial incentives, but develop stronger feelings following a personal tragedy. Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum ("Sneakerella") directed. [Netflix] THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF JERUSALEM: The Israeli period drama series is based on the book by Sarit Yishai Levy, and follows the lives of the Armoza Family of Jerusalem through different historical eras and generations. "Part 2" comes to Netflix in the US on Friday. [Netflix] MASABA MASABA: The Hindi-language biographical comedy-drama series from India relates the life story of fashion designer and actor Masaba Gupta, who co-stars along with her mother, Neena, as fictionalized versions of themselves. Season 2 debuts in the US on Netflix this Friday. [Netflix] FANÁTICO: Debut musical comedy-drama series from Spain about a die-hard fan (Roger Gaul) who makes a play for fame by adopting the persona of Quimera, a widely beloved and recently-deceased trap music artist. [Netflix] DETECTIVE CONAN: ZERO'S TEA TIME: Anime series based on the manga by Takahiro Arai, spun off from the "Detective Conan" series. It follows operative Rei Furuya, also known as Tooru Amuro, as he struggles to keep straight all of his various covers and alternate identities. [Netflix] THE ENTITLED: Romantic comedy feature from The Philippines starring YouTube breakout Alex Gonzaga as an everyday teen who takes sophistication classes from a charming lawyer (JC De Vera) after learning that her estranged father (Johnny Revilla) is a wealthy hotel mogul. [Netflix] NOT OKAY: Comedy-drama feature from Searchlight Pictures starring Zoey Deutch as an aspiring writer who fakes a trip to Paris on social media for clout. After becoming an influencer, she lands the man of her dreams (Dylan O'Brien) and befriends an activist (Mia Isaac) while struggling to maintain her increasingly elaborate fictions. Quinn Shepard wrote and directed. [Hulu] HATCHING (PAHANHAUTOJA): 2022 horror film from Finland, about an ambitious young gymnast (Siiri Solalinna) who secretly raises a strange creature that hatched from a mysterious egg, and which seems to take violent cues from her own repressed emotions. "Hatching" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. [Hulu] NYC POINT GODS: Sports documentary about a group of legendary point guards who honed their skills on the playgrounds of New York City in the 1980s and '90s, including Rafer Alston, Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury, God Shammgod, Kenny Smith, Rod Strickland, and Dwayne "Pearl" Washington. The film looks at the group's influence on basketball as well as pop culture, and particularly East Coast hip-hop. Stephen A. Smith, Cam'ron, Fat Joe, Rick Pitino, and others offer insights; Kevin Durant produced. [Showtime] MILESTONE GENERATIONS: Feature documentary about Milestone Media, which was founded in 1993 and dedicated to introducing more Black superheroes to comic books, along with more storytellers and artists of color behind the scenes. The film looks at the history of Milestone, as well as the brand's recent relaunch by original co-founder Denys Cowan and filmmaker Reginald Hudlin. Cliff "Method Man" Smith narrates. [HBO Max] SUPERMAN & LOIS: The CW superhero drama series -- based on DC Comics characters -- follows Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) as they move back to Smallville to raise their sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alex Garfin). Season 2 -- which pits Superman up against his "Inverse World" counterpart Bizarro (also Hoechlin) -- comes to HBO Max today. [HBO Max] THE REEF: STALKED: Director Andrew Traucki returns for this sequel to the 2010 Australian horror film "The Reef," in which a group of friends are stalked and attacked by a massive great white shark during a kayaking and diving adventure off a remote Pacific island. Teressa Liane, Ann Truong, Saskia Archer, and Kate Lister co-star. [Shudder] SUNDAY, JULY 31 CITY ON A HILL: The period crime drama series centers on the uneasy partnership between assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge) and corrupt FBI veteran Jackie Rohr (Kevin Bacon) in '90s Boston. Chuck MacLean created the series based a story by himself and Ben Affleck. It's back for a third season. [Showtime] A DAY TO DIE: Direct-to-VOD crime thriller starring Kevin Dillon as a parole officer who gets dangerously in debt to a local cartel leader (Leon), forcing him to reunite his retired military ops crew for a daring string of drug heists. Frank Grillo, Gianni Capaldi, Brooke Butler, and Bruce Willis co-star. [Hulu]

ABC News and Onyx Collective's "Aftershock" ABC News officially launched its new ABC News Studios division, dedicated to producing premium non-fiction original shows and documentaries. ABC News veteran David Sloan will serve as the group's senior executive producer and creative lead. More: ABC News Studios currently has three feature documentaries and 15 series in production, including new projects from Dawn Porter, Irene Taylor, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Stanley Nelson. The studio's output will air and stream on ABC, Hulu, Disney+, and the National Geographic cable network. Throughout his career at ABC News, Sloan has received nine Emmys, four Peabodys, and a DuPont Award; he has recently served as a senior executive producer, overseeing all of ABC News' primetime content. The studio "soft launched" last year, and has already developed a number of shows and films, including "Aftershock," "Leave No Trace," and "City of Angels | City of Death." THE WRAP

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"$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life" YouTube star MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) surpassed 100 million subscribers on his main channel on Thursday. He's currently the 5th most-subscribed channel on YouTube, following T-Series (221 million), Cocomelon (139 million), SET India (138 million), and PewDiePie (111 million). More: In a statement, Donaldson said "100 million means so much... I hope to do YouTube until the day I die." The 24-year-old made an estimated $54 million last year, making him likely the highest-earning YouTuber in the world. MrBeast started posting videos in 2012 but rose to greater prominence in 2018, buoyed largely by viral videos in which he'd give away large sums of money to strangers. Donaldson indicated that he'll celebrate this new milestone by releasing one of his most expensive videos to date on August 4. VARIETY

The hit ABC sitcom "Abbott Elementary" will stream on both Hulu and HBO Max. Season 1 episodes landed on Hulu the day after they aired on television; this next-day agreement will continue for Season 2, which debuts on September 21. More: Season 1 will premiere in its entirety on HBO Max on August 20; Season 2 episodes will hit HBO Max prior to the TV debut of Season 3. The series -- from creator and star Quinta Brunson -- is a workplace comedy set in a Philadelphia public school, produced in a mockumentary format similar to "The Office." Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis, and Sheryl Lee Ralph co-star. Season 1 of "Abbott Elementary" earned 7 Emmy nominations this year, including Outstanding Comedy Series. VARIETY

Interactive gaming and technology company Immersive Gamebox announced an interactive "Squid Game" experience launching in New York in September. The installation is only offered for guests over the age of 16, and has been formally approved by Netflix. More: Participants will play a live version of "Squid Game" with up to 6 competitors at once; challenges are directly inspired by the "Squid Game" series, including playground favorites like "Red Light, Green Light" and marbles. The experience will utilize the company's "Gamebox" technology, which places participants in pods surrounded by touch screens and motion sensors. Immersive Gamebox also has locations in Dallas, Chicago, Houston, and Denver; previous experiences have integrated other IP, such as the "Angry Birds" franchise. Netflix has a second season of "Squid Game" currently in development, as well as a reality show spinoff. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

QUICK HITS Jennifer Lopez and Aaron Rodgers's newest bottled coffee investment. Get 30% off two 12-packs!* Prime Video canceled the YA survival drama series "The Wilds" after two seasons. The cult horror-comedy series "Los Espookys" returns to HBO for a second 6-episode season in September. Starz released a trailer for the upcoming limited historical drama series "The Serpent Queen," starring Samantha Morton as 16th Century French royal Catherine de' Medici; the series arrives on September 11. In a report from the Los Angeles Times, a number of former staffers from Palisades Media Group -- the ad agency which abruptly closed earlier this month, and counted Netflix as its largest client -- accused company leaders of poor decision-making and mismanagement. Variety predicts layoffs could be coming to HBO Max's unscripted development team, now that the merger with Discovery is complete, and new CEO David Zaslav is looking to make $3 billion in spending cuts. Phylicia Rashad and Shahar Isaac signed on for recurring roles in the sixth and final season of Paramount+'s "The Good Fight." Entertainment Weekly got an early look at "Reboot," the new Hulu comedy series from "Modern Family" co-creator Steve Levitan; the new show centers on the cast of a (fictional) early '00s TV series who are brought back together for a new revival. Netflix dropped a trailer for the three-part true-crime docuseries "I Just Killed My Dad," about the killing of Louisiana father Burt Templet by his 17-year-old son, Anthony; Skye Borgman ("Girl in the Picture") directed. Your content management system could be doing more. Discover who has the best agile CMS for you and your teams with our checklist.* *This is sponsored content

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." Editor Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.

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