Sony's CinemaCon Report Card & Who Could Replace Mike and Pam at WB Besides Hollywood's Usual Suspects?

It’s Tuesday morning in Las Vegas. Do you know where your ice bucket is?

It was a rough weekend at the box office, where Jason Statham’s action movie A Working Man worked a lot better than A24’s horror-comedy Death of a Unicorn. While it’s true that neither film was anything to crow about, it’s also true that neither film will lose its studio an estimated $115 million dollars, which is what Disney reportedly stands to lose on Snow White. Marc Webb’s live-action fairy tale is poised to end its theatrical run with roughly $225 million worldwide — a paltry number that can’t be explained simply by Rachel Zegler’s tweets, all due respect to Jonah Platt.

Meanwhile, Prime Video released the new Nicole Kidman movie Holland, and don’t expect to see it crack the Nielsen Top 10, let alone the Top 10 of any critics, as this poor excuse for a “thriller” was flat as hell — likely the result of having three “beta” leads (Matthew Macfadyen and Gael Garcia Bernal co-star).

I also caught up with Geremy Jasper’s Hulu film O’Dessa, which began streaming last week, and while the film comes alive in its final few minutes, I can’t say its tepid love story between Sadie Sink and Kelvin Harrison Jr. did much for me. Jasper remains a talent in my book, but his follow-up to Patti Cake$ never quite achieved lift-off.

The week began with official confirmation — from Duncan Idaho himself — that Jason Momoa will, in fact, return to Arrakis in Dune: Messiah, as I previously said on The Hot Mic. Yes, if you’ve read the books, you knew this was probably inevitable, but then again, nothing in Hollywood is inevitable, and director Denis Villeneuve has certainly veered from Frank Herbert’s beloved books. I liked Dune: Part Two much more than Part One, but it’ll be great to have Momoa back, as he was one of the highlights of the first film, which benefitted from his energy and charisma.

And speaking of confirmations about Legendary projects, on Monday, the trades confirmed my hot scoop about Sydney Sweeney starring in Legendary’s Gundam movie. Word on the street is that she’s getting $7 million to play the female lead.

Elsewhere, WB and Ketchup Entertainment have confirmed their rumored deal for Coyote vs. Acme, which is expected to hit theaters next year to allow Ketchup time to figure out its release strategy.

CinemaCon kicked off in Las Vegas today, and while Paramount won’t present its slate until Thursday, the studio has already announced one notable move, as the untitled live-action comedy from writer Vernon Chatman and producers Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Kendrick Lamar, and Dave Free is moving from July 3 to March 20, 2026.

Matt Belloni reports that the movie still isn’t finished, but I never really expected Paramount to release this controversial comedy over the 4th of July weekend, given the marketing challenges it presents. The studio would’ve been crazy to throw it to the wolves and drop it into a theatrical scrum between F1, Jurassic World Rebirth, and Superman. That said, it sure feels like March is the hot new month for studios to release their “problem movies” that they don’t really know how to sell — i.e., WB’s Mickey 17 and The Bride!

Today, you’ll read my thoughts on Sony’s CinemaCon presentation — God bless Tom Rothman — plus, I recap my weekend conversations with industry insiders and reveal a master list of possibilities as to who could replace Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at Warner Bros., where the studio heads are on the hot seat according to just about every major entertainment publication. Just remember where you first heard about the drama in Burbank!

There are also items about Meryl Streep becoming a lion, the surprising lead in Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series, James Patterson teaming up with MrBeast, a bunch of notable TV casting news, and a look at Shia LaBeouf’s new boxing movie.

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