If it seems like “Innovation Hubs” are now all the rage at major festivals and markets, you’re not wrong. AI startups and other tech-focused entertainment companies are now earning their place at the table, as entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, is here to share.  

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Needed Evolution

Of course, if festivals and film markets want to stay relevant, they have to change with the times, so there’s little surprise that the Independent Film and TV Alliance has made this decision. The film market will now include the AFM House, a new location added to its Century City, LA, lineup. This will be the Innovation Hub home, and where most of the tech and AI companies will be found. 

They are partnering with Cannes Next for the initiative, which was launched at Cannes itself last year and also brought tech companies into the entertainment fold. 

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On the Avenue of Stars

AFM House itself will be located at The Pavilion at Century Park, on the Avenue of Stars and fully accessible from the Fairmont Century Plaza. It will include The Cinemas Club, which will focus on the future of theatrical and exhibition, and builds on an offering from this year’s Cannes Film Market. 

The AFM will run between November 10 and November 15 this year, with the AFM House open from November 11- 14. This year’s theme will be “The New Global Screen Economy,” and is specifically courting tech companies that want to get involved with film and TV projects. It will be open to all registered festival attendees. 

Whether you see the growing interest of tech companies in the filmmaking space as a needed evolution or an unwelcome intrusion, the pace of progress can rarely be halted. Perhaps it will be more interesting to focus on what comes from these entertainment and technology collaborations over the coming years, as that’s where the real proof will be generated, after all.

While Starz showed a surge in profits when it first split from Lionsgate, it seems that temporary surge is levelling out as the company makes its own path as an independent entity. However, it’s still showing strong signs for future success, as entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, analyzes for us.

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Increased 2026 Outlook

For the second quarter of this year, ending June 30, Starz brought in $307.9M, just shy of its $319.7M in the same period last year. Streaming revenue held pretty stable at $221.3M. The small downtick came from its linear and “other” revenue categories, landing at $86.6M, roughly $10M short of the prior year. Most of this is related to the continued decline in the cable TV market.

According to CEO and President Jeffrey Hirsch, the company expects this revenue trend to continue, and they should achieve positive annual OTT revenue growth this year. In fact, they increased their outlook for 2026 across several key metrics.

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Bullish Optimism

Much of Starz’s recent focus has been on their digital and TV streaming options, hoping to expand their market share. Despite the small dip in their share price caused by the earnings report, the company itself is keeping a bullish outlook. Quite surprisingly, in the face of a widening net loss, most of this can be laid at the door of their recent restructuring costs and the termination fee for their Universal Pictures pay-one deal, which fell in April this year. 

Starz is also trying to boost its own IPs with in-house creation at present, especially in the Power and Outlander franchises.

Reportedly, this is their fourth consecutive quarter of growing user engagement, which will be critical to their future growth, and this quarter saw their second-highest audience engagement to date.  

Regardless of how the end of the year shapes up, 2026 is still set to be one of the most productive post-pandemic years for theatrical releases. What’s really driving this comeback, and why now? It’s a question Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, is here to examine. 

Brandon Blake

A New, Better Phase

Let’s cut to the chase on one of the biggest contributing factors: more, and more varied, films. There wasn’t much to be done about the impact of 2023’s dual strikes on the then-nascent box office recovery, but the impact was massive. Tentpoles can generate splashy numbers, but alone, they can’t save the box office, and for a while, that’s all we had. 2026 has been one of the first years post-pandemic to offer not just wide slates, but a well-balanced mix of titles across any possible spectrum you could wish for. 

We went beyond established IPs and (endless) prequel/sequel fare to see breakout new originals, like Obsession and Backrooms, to draw in younger adult audiences, and a ton of successful small and mid-sized films performing well in their class. That’s the sort of mix that introduces real resilience, not just one-off successes. 

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The Return of Younger Audiences

Alongside broader slates have come a broader audience base, and a younger one. This has been a great offset to the reluctance we’re still seeing among older audiences. Attendance by those under 25 has risen sharply as more films appealing to them hit the screen. 

And lastly, we have the other key factor. Studios have realized a good theatrical run pays off down the line, too. We’re seeing more and more 45-day windows, and even where they’re shorter, most hold to the 31-day average. Pair that with some far more creative marketing campaigns that better fit today’s more digital watchers, and you have a recipe for success, or so it seems. 

Let’s hope this same momentum can carry us through to the end of the year, and turn 2026 into the real recovery year we’ve been hoping for. 

Last March, the news broke that Netflix had acquired the Ben Affleck-founded AI firm InterPositive, but, as Netflix always is, little was said about the price tag. Now, we finally know what the deal cost, as entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, is here to report. 

Brandon Blake

A $587M Deal

At the time, most of those in the know estimated the deal at around $600M, and it turns out they were pretty on the nose. The firm went to Netflix for $587M. Netflix, of course, did not share this directly themselves. After all, this is the streamer who likes to play their cards close to their chest when it comes to any information at all. However, it was revealed last week as part of the SEC filing process. 

InterPositive was founded in 2022 by Ben Afflek, who also served as its CEO. Netflix took over most of the company’s small staff roster as part of the deal, while Afflek himself remained in an advisory role. 

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The Future of InterPositive and Netflix

Netflix acquired the company mostly as a cost savings exercise, especially for virtual production and its animation lab. Despite some backlash against the use of generative AI in Hollywood, Netflix is reportedly using it for footage enhancement and to add in larger scenes that would be fiscally difficult to bankroll using real extras. In turn, it promises that the money saved is being rolled back into the service itself.

With Netflix feeling rising pressure from Wall Street about its reasonably stagnant subscriber numbers and increasing tendency to refuse to share meaningful information about the company, there seems to be increasing pressure for Netflix to either show more progress or participate in the flurry of M&A deals we’re seeing at the moment. Whether or not the notoriously stubborn streamer will cave to this pressure, however, or continue to do their own thing their own way, remains to be seen.

Anyone following the Lionsgate ticker will have seen an almost-double-digit jump for them over the last week. This is all off the back of rumors that they could have a European buyer lined up. Entertainment attorney from Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, examines what we know.

Brandon Blake

Several Reported Buyers

With the studio also having celebrated its first $1B performer at the box office with Michael, they’re definitely riding high. Among the potential buyers whose names have been attached to the rumored deal are both Mediawan and, interestingly, the newly-merged Banijay Group. Canal+ has also been mentioned, but reportedly denies an interest in bidding. 

Regardless of the suitors, however, Lionsgate has definitely been working with an investment bank to assess if a deal would be worthwhile. Amusingly, Netflix has also been linked to a potential deal, but was quick to deny it. It seems the industry is determined that Netflix wants to find a merger of some sort, although they were lukewarm even on the early Warner Bros deal that did not happen and have not been particularly engaged on the M&A front.

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Nothing Guaranteed

However, Lionsgate, which has already acknowledged that its lack of scale is becoming a competitive constraint in comparison to the Hollywood majors, has not (yet) guaranteed it will sell at all. They have been quick to assert that the studio may well remain independent, and this is simply consideration of all their options given the increasing need for scale.  

However, even the rumors of a potential merger were enough to see Lionsgate shares climb, bringing the entity’s overall value to more than $4B. 

We’ve seen a spate of consolidation in entertainment recently, with the Paramount-Warner Bros deal and the Banijay-All3Media merger, which has now closed successfully. Will we actually see Lionsgate make a sale, too? It’s too early to tell, but there’s certainly plenty of interest.

While it rarely makes much of a splash as a filming destination, Oklahoma is seeing a surprising shoot boom of its own, buoyed by its $30M annual incentive program. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, shares a little about this hidden hero of the location landscape. 

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Another Revised Incentive Program

As with many of these booms, it started with the revision of its tax incentive program from $8M to $30M five years ago. Projects like Reservation Dogs and Tulsa King have also helped to increase interest in the state as a location (while benefiting from the incentives themselves). 

While the program itself is reasonably small, the tax incentive system is stackable, so individual jurisdictions can offer their own incentives on top of the state’s 20% rebate base. Paired with some surprising diversity of landscape, from desert to forest and including picturesque Old-West towns, there’s a lot to love. Plus, the state has a reputation for paying out fast, typically under 60 days, and does qualify above-the-line work as well, capped at 33%. 

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A Busy Year

While the area hasn’t been free of the general location shoot contraction underway in Hollywood at the moment, it’s still seeing a steady flow of new work interested in the area. 2025 numbers were on the rise again, and 2026 is shaping up to be busy as well. Vertical dramas are also calling the state home, as the $50,000 qualification threshold is relatively low, making it friendly to them and short films or documentaries. 

While perhaps best known as the default destination for anything Western-themed, Oklahoma’s incentive program is quietly doing its work, and the state is seeing the benefits, to the benefit of the state and the productions using its landscape as their backdrop. We’ll likely see a lot more of Oklahoma in the coming years.  

For those who remember All My Children with fondness, the news that BoxCar Studios, or the Atwater Village campus, is going up for sale will likely be a nostalgic one. The site also once served as a vault for Capitol Records. Entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, takes a look at what the sale could mean for the industry. 

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Scripted TV and Soundstages 

For LA, scripted TV has been the core of most soundstage occupancy, especially during the so-called “Streaming Wars” era, when production saw a significant uptick. However, since the pullback in 2023, many stages have lost permanent tenants, exacerbated by the shrinkage in series length for those scripted shows still in production.

FilmLA now puts soundstage occupancy at 62%, vs. the 93% occupancy rate of 2019. This has, in turn, led to many soundstages reinventing themselves as “creator campuses” for influencer and marketing shoots, and even exploring the vertical microdrama industry, given its recent boom. For others, a sale has been the solution, and that’s what lies ahead for 3030 Andrita Street in Atwater Village. 

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34,500 Square Feet of Stage Space

The complex offers 34,500 square feet of space across 3 existing stages, and has recently undergone a $18.6M renovation and upgrade. While All My Children was probably its most famous output, the facility has also been used for several Netflix productions. It was acquired in 2018 by private equity company Gaw Capital. 

With the complex zoned for a variety of M1 industrial purposes, and available for both sale and lease, there’s no guarantee that it will remain as a soundstage facility once it finds a buyer. However, with LA having recently improved its tax incentive program, we can always hope it, too, will see the benefits of the hoped-for rebound in LA’s filming rates. For now, there are no recorded interested parties, but this will be one to watch.

After acquiring the historic Alamo Drafthouse theater chain, Sony has now taken a $100M stake in the Immersive Dome Theaters, Cosm. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a studio hungry for direct theatrical stakes, and the expansion into new special formats is an interesting one, too. Entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, shares the full story.

Brandon Blake 

A New Deal

The deal was announced last Wednesday, and will see Sony take home an minority owners share in what we could tentatively call experiential event cinema. The giant dome theaters are designed to trick the viewer into seeing the exhibition blend with the physical space around them, hence the “immersive” part. Sony intends to use its stake to help shape the relatively new Cosm brand’s direction, and will no doubt be putting the tech to work to boost their own franchises along the way.

It’s certainly a new and rather exciting way to expand on the “event cinema” phenomenon, simulating the feeling of being at the event or in the film personally. Extending the show into the audience, as it were. A fitting acquisition for Sony, which has flirted with both technology and entertainment over its history.

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New Venues to Match

While Cosm currently operates across three locations, it is planning to open 2 more within the next year, and has other locations (both domestic and international) in mind as well. In a way, the concept behind the chain is similar to that of the Las Vegas Sphere, although not quite the same, and now Sony has an in for both its film franchises and music output. 

Will this be the start of a new era for Sony properties, and, for that matter, the entertainment industry? We’ve seen audiences buy into large-scale “event cinema” in a big way over the last few years, and this could certainly be a fascinating way to expand the idea of immersive experiences for the industry. 

Roku has a new owner, and its Fox. In what was a surprise deal for many, it seems that Fox itself may be looking to upscale its streaming presence. Or, at least, it’s streaming ad revenue. Our entertainment lawyer in the know, Blake & Wang P.A.’s Brandon Blake, takes a look at the story.

Brandon Blake

$22B Acquisition

There is a notable thread that connects the two, of course. Fox, since it sold off its film studio to Disney, has been more about showcasing others’ IP than creating its own. Roku, which has been one of the most unnoticed success stories in recent entertainment history, also has a limited slate of originals, but mostly makes its cash by making it easier for viewers to watch other studios’ content. What is odd, however, is that Fox has been skeptical of streaming for a while now. However, it’s likely the lure of the advertising bucks it can generate that’s driven this deal, especially as Fox has recently become the first company to close out its Upfronts inventory.

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Together, but Independent

With both companies’ stats combined, they will now account for about 10% of monthly TV viewing in the US, which could be enough to edge them ahead of Netflix and Paramount. Roku is, of course, one of the most dominant companies in the connected TV market at present, and its free TV services will make a nice complement to those on offer through Tubi, Fox’s existing FAST streamer. 

While the deal isn’t expected to close until early next year, it is believed that Fox will probably continue to operate Roku as an independent subsidiary, letting it take advantage of expanded streaming ad inventory and controlling its distribution strategy without having to change Fox’s underlying current strategy. All in all, it will be an interesting new turn for the books to see where this deal ends up.

Move over, Fahrenheit 9/11, there’s a new successor in town. Obsession, which came to Focus Films out of the Toronto Film Festival, is now the highest-grossing acquisition of all time, as entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake is here to share.

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Breaking Box Office Records

With a very respectable gross of $225.5M globally, Obsession has a slew of records under its belt, and now it can add another. That’s pretty impressive for a title that cost about $15M for them to acquire, beating out Neon and A24 in a 24-hour deal-making bout. While the film had a strong festival response at the time, few could have foreseen it grabbing the box office traction that it has. It’s also performed stronger and stronger each week, something we see only rarely, with only a 7% decline in the fourth week.

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A Hidden Festival Gem

Incidentally, the film has also toppled the 2019 release of Downton Abbey to take the title of Focus Films’ top-grossing movie to date. It’s certainly a worthy successor to Fahrenheit 9/11, which first premiered at Cannes in 2004 and took home the Palme d’Or that year. Although the title was initially destined for Miramax, Disney did not want to release the film due to some controversies around its subject matter, and the Weinstein brothers eventually purchased the movie for release in partnership with Lionsgate and IFC. It stood as Lionsgate’s top movie until The Hunger Games toppled it.

It’s always great to see festival titles break out into true mainstream success, rather than remaining awards darlings with little traction or awareness from the general public. With more to come still from Obsession’s box office run, let’s hope to see even more success for Focus Films in the months to come.