Coachella’s New Headliner

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Happy Wednesday, Future Party. Today is the official end (for the second time) of Bob Iger’s reign as CEO of Disney, with Josh D’Amaro being crowned the big ears at the Mouse House. Iger was defined by the big film and TV acquisitions he made (Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm) that rebooted the studio. So, we wouldn’t be surprised to see D’Amaro — who has a background in parks and experiences — make some big moves to take the IRL side of Disney to the next level. May the force be with you, Josh.

Over the past year, several new movie distributors have emerged that could reinvigorate the strained independent film market.

The Big Picture: As Hollywood contracts, movie studios are taking safer bets on fewer films that have the potential for blockbuster upside. That’s leaving a lot of festival movies without distributors to release them. These new distributors hope to fill that gap.

Behind The Scenes: If a filmmaker has a hit movie at Sundance or SXSW, they might find a new list of companies involved in the bidding war.

Variety has a sampling:

Final Deal: The key with all of these new studios is that there’s quite a bit of private financing behind them to keep the lights on — something necessary when marketing and releasing a film takes a minimum of five years… and then years more to fully recoup. Black Bear is run by Teddy Schwarzman, the son of billionaire Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman, and Row K is an arm of investment firm Media Capital Technologies.

Still, Hollywood is littered with once-promising startup distributors that bit the dust after a few years — Broad Green, Relativity Media, and STX Entertainment, to name a recent few. But Hollywood has always been a gamble… so hopefully the odds are more favorable this time around.

Coming Soon: By betting on fresh filmmakers and innovative marketing approaches, these distributors could make a name for themselves by servicing the smaller films that the studios are mostly ignoring.

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Doodles, an entertainment franchise that has evolved from NFTs to a larger storytelling platform, is launching Doodles AI — a system trained entirely on its proprietary artwork.

Why It Hits: When it comes to AI, the proof is in the pudding… or the ethics is in the training data. Most AI-powered entertainment firms are built on top of larger systems like OpenAI or Gemini… or have even built their own models that scrape the internet. By making something that exists entirely within its own copyright, Doodles represents a way forward that respects artists.

Between The Code: Doodling is getting an upgrade.

Final Render: Making a movie isn’t entirely new ground for Doodles — it released the Pharrell Williams-exec produced animated special Dullsville and the Doodleverse at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Still, a feature-length project is a major step up that requires a lot more manpower… or computer power.

That’s something that Doodles CEO Scott Martin (aka Burnt Toast), who told Variety: “We realized we were hitting a ceiling on how much we could produce manually, so we needed a way to scale creative output without losing the essence of the art style.”

The Future: By showing that it’s possible to build small, proprietary models that respect copyright, it’s possible that every entertainment IP brand will explore creating its own to keep its fans constantly creating… and constantly engaged.

March Madness is here, which means it’s time to finalize your game brackets. This season, Kalshi is upping the ante on your predictions.

Anyone with a verified Kalshi account can submit their bracket for a chance to win $1 billion. (Yeah, with a B.) But here’s the challenge: You need to guess all 63 games right — 1 in 120 billion odds. High stakes!

But Kalshi’s not going to let those insane odds stand in the way of giving out some money. So, the highest-scoring entry will walk away with a guaranteed $1 million (Yeah, with an M.)

And because Kalshi is about spreading opportunity, it’s also giving $1 million to charity and math scholarships.

Think you got what it takes to win? Submit your prediction today.

51% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever traveled to Asia?

“It’s just too far away.”

“1965. Vietnam. I’d visit if I could afford it, but you can’t go back.”

“I taught six weeks of income tax classes in Korea in 1999. All I knew about Korea was from M*A*S*H. I’m so glad I was able to go!”

“I went to China (and Hong Kong) in 2007 as part of a student ambassador trip — my first time out of the country and on a plane.”

“Been to Korea 3x, Japan 5x, India 4x, and also China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. I love Asia!”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎥 Sony Pictures has struck a multi-year first-look and co-financing deal after the success of GOAT.

🎞️ Creator-focused firm Night Media is releasing its first movie in theaters — a comedy starring David Spade and Theo Von called Busboys.

📱 Vurt, a new short-form vertical video streamer, is open for creators to submit their projects directly.

🚀 NASA announced that its first Artemis Moon Mission will launch on April 1st.

🤖 IBM closed an $11 billion acquisition of Confluent to expand its AI business.

💳 Mastercard is acquiring stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for $1.8 billion to supercharge its crypto ambitions.

🎸 Gap has been named the official Coachella apparel and merch sponsor… and has released an exclusive new hoodie to celebrate (which we doubt you’ll need in the desert).

👕 Japanese fashion brand Human Made has created a subsidiary to expand into the US.

📦 Amazon wants to speed up its business with new one-hour and three-hour delivery options.