Studio Mandates 2026 Finale — Apple, Netflix, Amazon MGM Studios, United Artists, and Amazon AI Creative Studio

Happy Tuesday, folks!

After a lovely vacation with the fam, including a couple of days down the Cape, I’m back from the holiday break with a cool update.

Three years ago, Daniel Richtman reported on a new Ali G movie from English provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen that was either in the works or had been in the works prior to the dual strikes of 2023. I’m hearing that such a project has now been completed. It’s unclear whether the new Ali G movie is being shopped to buyers right now or if it already has a home, but it’s my understanding that it’s in the can.

Cohen was reportedly spotted in character in and around Oxfordshire, England, in July and September of 2025, though I believe Ali G also spends a good deal of time in the circus that is America in this mysterious new project, which remains untitled and has no release date as of now. A representative for Cohen declined to comment on Monday.

This weekend, I finished reading John Wainwright’s 1979 novel Brainwash, which isn’t the sort of book I typically read (it was very British), but I really liked it, and I think I’m going to dive into more of Wainwright’s bibliography in the months ahead.

Brainwash led me to watch the 1981 French film Garde à Vue (aka The Inquisitor, aka The Grilling) and another adaptation, the 2000 thriller Under Suspicion, starring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Under Suspicion was ultimately better thanks to its two leads, who really sink their teeth into the material, but it’s 25 minutes longer than Garde à Vue, and it would’ve benefited from a more judicious edit.

As for the weekend box office, I’m not going to pour any more salt in Supergirl’s wound, but you should head to THR for a thoughtful post-mortem from Borys Kit. I’m more interested in the underperformance of Minions and Monsters, which grossed just $61.4 million at the domestic box office over the 5-day weekend, and whether Universal is starting to panic about The Odyssey, as clearly, there are folks with an axe to grind when it comes to Christopher Nolan’s epic, which has become a target of small-minded conservatives.

Today brings the final entries from the 19-page document listing Studio Mandates for this summer — a pretty interesting document that I have shared in its entirety in recent weeks.

The same preamble applies. This is an external document compiled by an agency or management company, and I’m presenting these entries pretty much exactly how they are in the document, with a few formatting and content tweaks based on reporting. That said, I’m “sharing” this stuff more than I am “reporting” it, and I offer my own analysis below as well.

Keep in mind that studio mandates change week-to-week, if not day-to-day, but generally speaking, this document has been spot-on, based on the feedback I’ve received.

Today’s focus is on Apple, Netflix, Amazon, United Artists, and Amazon AI Creative Studio. Premium subscribers may now continue reading…

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