"Top Gun" sets P+ record / YouTube privacy lawsuit / Netflix shares jump 6% / Stan Lee Disney+ doc

Plus today's calendar, "Alice in Borderland" S2, Bartha on "National Treasure" franchise, Coloma exits "GH," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network December 29, 2022

According to the platform's internal stats, "Top Gun: Maverick" had the most-watched premiere weekend in Paramount+'s history. Between December 22 and December 25, the action sequel -- the highest-grossing theatrical film of 2022 -- surpassed the performance of previous record-holder "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" by 60%. More: "Top Gun: Maverick" outperformed star Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" franchise titles on Paramount+ by over 140%, and also topped the performance of the original 1986 film "Top Gun." Other recent theatrical films that have made their way onto Paramount+ include the Sandra Bullock rom-com "The Lost City" and the horror hit "Smile." "Maverick" has been nominated for two Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture, Drama, and has been named best film of the year by the National Board of Review. VARIETY

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle revived a lawsuit accusing Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under 13. At issue are tracking tools used by YouTube to monitor activity, for use in targeted advertising, without parental consent. More: The Court ruled that, in passing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Congress did not intend to pre-empt state laws regarding privacy claims. Some states allow private plaintiffs to pursue actions regarding the online data collection of minors; COPPA only grants this authority to the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general. The lawsuit -- Jones et al v. Google LLC et al -- not only names Google but content providers such as Hasbro, Mattel, Cartoon Network, and DreamWorks Animation, which it claims purposefully lured children to their YouTube channels with the intention of tracking their behavior. REUTERS

DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29 COACH PRIME: Four-part documentary series chronicling Deion Sanders' 2022 season as head football coach for the Jackson State Tigers. The first two episodes hit Prime Video today. [Amazon] PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK: 2022 animated action-comedy, loosely inspired by the 1974 film "Blazing Saddles," is set in a version of feudal Japan that's inhabited by anthropomorphic cats. Michael Cera stars as a bumbling beagle named Hank who masters the samurai arts to save a village from a powerful warlord. Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks, and George Takei co-star. [Amazon] RISE OF EMPIRES: OTTOMAN: English-language historical docudrama series from Turkey, chronicling pivotal events in the early Ottoman Empire. Season 2, which debuts today, focuses on the clash between Sultan Mehmed II (Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu) and tyrannical Wallachian ruler Vlad Dracula. Tube Büyüküstün, Birkan Sokullu, Selim Bayraktar, Osman Sonant, Damla Sönmez and Ushan Çakır co-star. [Netflix] BROWN AND FRIENDS: Debut animated Netflix Jr. series, featuring "Line Friends" characters originally designed for the Korean messaging app Line. In the series, the pals share everyday dialogue-free adventures in a cozy coffee shop. [Netflix] DEADLINE: British thriller series, produced for Channel 5, starring James D'Arcy as a journalist who falls in love with a femme fatale (Charlie Murphy) accused of murdering her husband. [BritBox]

"Emily in Paris" Netflix shares jumped by more than 6% after the opening bell on Thursday. On Wednesday, CFRA analyst Kenneth Leon published a new research note, double-upgrading the stock from "Sell" to "Buy." More: Leon wrote that, in addition to Netflix's "best-in-class platform," popular new content such as "Emily in Paris" and "Glass Onion" seem likely to boost subscriptions and reduce churn. Leon also cited the introduction of an ad-supported tier and Netflix's vow to cut down on password sharing as positive signs for the future. Netflix reports its Q4 earnings and full-year results for 2022 on January 19. VARIETY

Disney+ announced a new documentary profile of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, coming to the platform sometime later this year. The writer, editor, and publisher whose (shared) creations include Spider-Man, the X-Men, and The Avengers passed away in 2018 and would have turned 100 years old on December 28. More: Lee began his career in comic books in 1941.  He became recognizable to generations of superhero fans from his many appearances in classic Marvel TV shows and films. In a tweet, Disney+ shared a brief teaser for the film, along with the caption "100 years of dreaming. 100 years of creating. 100 years of Stan Lee." CNN

The Japanese thriller series "Alice in Borderland" set several new Netflix records this past week. The show's 8-episode second season was the most-watched Japanese series in the platform's history during its first week. More: For the week ending on December 25, "Alice in Borderland" Season 2 was the #1 most-watched non-English language show around the world, with 61.1 million hours viewed. The first season grabbed the #2 spot on the international chart, with 18.6 million hours viewed. Season 2 hit the Top 10 TV Shows list in 90 countries in its first week; it's still #1 in nine of those locations. "Alice in Borderland" Season 2 arrived more than two years after the debut of Season 1. The series -- based on a manga by Haro Aso -- centers on a group of strangers who find themselves mysteriously transported to an abandoned alternate-reality Tokyo, where they're forced to compete in a series of fiendish, deadly "games." BGR

QUICK HITS Need help setting up and securing your business's Apple devices? Manage up to 3 devices for free with Jamf Now.* Justin Bartha -- who reprises his role as Riley Poole from the "National Treasure" films in the new Disney+ spinoff series -- told Variety "there is still hope for another movie." "General Hospital" actor Marcus Coloma -- who plays Nikolas Cassadine on the daytime drama -- exited the series without shooting his final scenes due to "health issues with his recent COVID exposure"; his final episodes will air and stream later this month. Actor Giancarlo Esposito chatted with TV Line about his new Netflix heist drama "Kaleidoscope," which he compares to the Adam Sandler film "Uncut Gems," and previewed the TV adaptation of Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen." John Cleese asked his Twitter followers why the BBC no longer reruns classic episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" before being quickly corrected by network executive John Hoare, who confirmed that BBC Two most recently aired the series in 2019. Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn appeared on the latest edition of Deadline's "Crew Call" podcast to promote his upcoming Netflix crime drama series "Copenhagen Cowboy." Current "Saturday Night Live" performers recalled their all-time favorite sketches for a new feature in The Hollywood Reporter.  Bella Throne shared a troubling anecdote about being sexualized by an unnamed casting director when she was just 10 years old on the latest episode of Emily Ratajkowski's "High Low with EmRata" podcast. Three Founders wished they could invest in fractional shares of real estate while browsing Zillow. So they made Arrived.* *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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