'Demon Slayer' Aiming At Anime Record; MSNBC Drops Dowd; Amazon Amps Up NFL Data

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View on web New reader? Subscribe SUBSCRIBE. IT'S FREE. 'DEMON SLAYER' TAKES AIM AT ANIME RECORD SONY'S TITLE IS EXPECTED TO OVERTAKE THE FIRST 'POKEMON' MOVIE AND SET A NEW DOMESTIC B.O. HIGH FOR THE GENRE Exhibitors are looking forward to another weekend that’s bound to overperform thanks to Crunchyroll/Sony Pictures’ Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, which is expected to overtake Warner Bros’ 1999 Pokemon: The First Movie ($31M) as the highest opening ever for an anime film Stateside. Tracking, distribution sources, et. al are wild with their projections. Sony is forecasting $35M at 3,300 theaters, boosted by Imax and PLF showtimes. Deadline has reported that advance ticket sales in their first four days back in mid-August stood at $10M; again, an advance ticket record for an anime movie. Sources now indicate that that figure is way higher, with many saying it’s at least $15M+. Other sources believe that Infinity Castle has the potential to open to $45M-$60M+ over Friday to Sunday. >>>Variables TORONTO Angelina Jolie Reveals Why Alice Winocour’s ‘Couture’ Is “Very Personal” To Her And The Element She’s “Super Shy” About ‘Steve’s Cillian Murphy On The “Psychological And Emotional” Burden Of A Man “Doing His Absolute Best” Tessa Thompson On Taking On “A Female Hamlet” In Nia DaCosta’s ‘Hedda’: “I Felt Happily Terrified” ‘Sacrifice’s Anya Taylor-Joy & Chris Evans On Their Characters’ “Kindergarten Friendship” Within A Satirical Thriller All Of Deadline's Toronto Reviews TIFF Red Carpet Photos Deadline Exclusives & Originals Pigskin 'Pocket' - As Thursday Night Football kicks off its fourth season on Amazon Prime Video tonight, fans can expect even more data complementing the singular tones of Al Michaels’ play-by-play call, including an “End of Game” suite of tools providing a detailed sense of potential outcomes, scenarios and strategies in the climactic final minutes. >>>Like Q And James Bond MSNBC Drops Dowd - Matthew Dowd is no longer with MSNBC, a network source confirmed, following a furor over remarks he made in the aftermath of the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. >>>Apology Issued Revisiting The Crawleys - Combined viewership in July and August across all six seasons of Downton Abbey as well as the two prior films, Downton Abbey and Downton Abbey: A New Era, has more than doubled compared to the combined viewership for March, April and May, per NBCUniversal’s internal data shared with Deadline. >>>Record Numbers Ruth Vitale: Guest Column - Ruth Vitale, who previously held executive posts at Paramount Classics, Fine Line Features and New Line Cinema, is CEO of CreativeFuture, a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 companies and organizations and nearly 300,000 individuals devoted to promoting the value of creativity in the digital age. Here, she argues that digital piracy impacts Hollywood and big tech firms alike. >>> The China Factor In Brief - Lulu Wang to direct Lucy Liu & Charles Melton in Audition... Artists First signs ESPN’s Mina Kimes THE DEADLINE INTERVIEW Netflix Japan Content Head Talks Ten-Year Anniversary, Expanding To New Genres & Collaborating With Korean Counterparts Netflix is marking 10 years in Japan this month, and in that time, it has gone from a brand with zero presence to a key, noisy player in the local streaming ecosystem. Here, Kaata Sakamoto, Netflix’s Vice-President of Content for Japan, talks to Deadline about the biggest challenges he's faced. >>>Interview              CASTING ABOUT exclusive Spence Moore (Creed III) and Charlie Mann (The Watchers) have been cast as the leads in Starz's Power: Origins. They will play Ghost and Tommy, respectively, the younger versions of the characters portrayed by Omari Hardwick and Joseph Sikora in the mothership Power series.   Exclusive Aimee Garcia (Lucifer) has been set as a series regular in AMC's The Walking Dead: Dead City for its third season. Garcia will play Renata, a disarmingly charming leader with a natural ability to win people over with her optimism and convivial personality.   exclusive Niko Nicotera (Sons of Anarchy) has joined the cast of the Paramount+ series Mayor of Kingstown in a recurring role for Season 4.   exclusive John Ortiz (American Fiction) has been upped to series regular in the second season of the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey, from executive producer Bill Lawrence and starring and executive produced by Vince Vaughn.               BY THE NUMBERS   $1.6B - The value of Angel Studios after its SPAC merger with Southport Acquisition Corp. MORE NEWS 🗣️ Daniel Day-Lewis has said he never intended to retire from acting and described the former comments he made about stepping away from performing as “grandiose gibberish” in a new interview. "I would have done well to just keep my mouth shut, for sure," Day-Lewis told Rolling Stone. ❌ As ICE raids intensify across the United States, Bad Bunny is keeping his fans’ safety in mind on his latest world tour. The 3x Grammy-winning Puerto Rican artist recently explained that he opted not to include any U.S. stops on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour as he and his team were “very concerned” about his fans being subjected to threats of deportation. HIRINGS, PROMOTIONS & EXITS Paramount Hires Google And Meta Alum Dane Glasgow As Chief Product Officer Netflix Chief Product Officer Eunice Kim To Exit OBITUARIES 🕯️ Charlie Kirk, one of the most prominent and divisive social media influencers and podcasters on the right who was credited with mobilizing young voters, was shot and killed at a rally on a college campus Wednesday. He was 31. 🕯️ David Travis , a pioneer in the home-video field who became a marketing executive for several Silicon Valley companies, has died. He was 79. A family rep said Travis died August 30 of metastasized colorectal cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Fund home in Woodland Hills, CA. 🕯️ 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery ON THE RADAR Thu - Gaumont retrospective begins at Academy Museum; Sean Penn on Kimmel Fri - SAG election Sun - Primetime Emmys Mon - Digital Oscar screeners go out Tue - Fast Company Innovation Festival Wed - Trump's UK State Visit begins PHOTO OF THE DAY Back To School - Sean Patrick Thomas, Derek Luh, Lizze Broadway, Maddie Phillips, Jaz Sinclair, London Thor, Asa Germann, Ethan Slater, and Hamish Linklater at the Gen V Season Two Premiere and After-Party at Silver Screen Theater at the Pacific Design Center. This email was sent to punjabsvera@gmail.com by Deadline. Please add email@email.deadline.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the Preferences Center to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. 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