Events 

• The LA Games Conference is on Wednesday. Activision Blizzard Inc.’s Head of DE&I Business Integration Alyssa Mendoza and Roblox’s Head of Entertainment Partnerships Todd Lichten are some of the featured speakers.
• The IAB Podcast Upfronts, which will be held virtually and in-person in New York City on Thursday, will give companies and media buyers the opportunity to preview current and upcoming podcasts. A panel to keep an eye on: “Podcasts. Made Better.” features celebrities who’ve made the jump to the format such as Conan O’Brien, Kelly Ripa and Neil deGrasse Tyson.  

Earnings reports

• It’s a busy day on Tuesday: Electronic Arts Inc., Fox Corp., Warner Music Group Corp., AMC Networks Inc. and Nexstar Media Group Inc. will all share their latest financial results.
• The Walt Disney Co. will share its second-quarter results on Wednesday. The entertainment giant’s future seemingly hasn’t left the headlines since CEO Bob Iger’s return in November, from cutting 4,000 jobs and its public feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to speculation related to the futures of Hulu and ESPN.

Awards

• The MTV Movie & TV Awards are tonight at 8 p.m. ET on MTV and Paramount+. Drew Barrymore was scheduled to host but dropped out in support of the ongoing writers’ strike. The show, instead, won’t have a host.
• The Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton, are on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Entering its 58th year, the show returns exclusively to Prime Video and Twitch’s Amazon Music channel for the second year in a row. The event will also stream on Amazon Freevee starting Friday.

TV 

• FX on Hulu’s “Class of ’09” premieres on Wednesday. The limited series starring Brian Tyree Henry and Kate Mara follows a group of FBI agents who have to navigate a U.S. criminal justice system that’s been forever changed by artificial intelligence. A recent Morning Consult survey found that 46% of Americans are interested in watching a movie or TV show in which the main storyline is about AI.
• Apple TV+’s new drama series, “City on Fire,” based on the bestselling book by Garth Risk Hallberg, premieres on Friday, while the third season of Hulu’s Emmy-nominated series “The Great” also premieres on Friday.

Movies

• “BlackBerry,” the latest film based on the origin story of a popular product, hits theaters on Friday. 
• Netflix’s “The Mother” premieres on Friday. A Morning Consult survey from March found that the action film’s star, Jennifer Lopez, tied Lady Gaga as U.S. adults’ favorite musician-turned-actor.
• Apple TV+’s “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” which chronicles the actor’s career and Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, also premieres on Friday.

• The Writers Guild of America went on strike for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations with Hollywood studios and streaming services ended without a new agreement. “Saturday Night Live” shut down as a result of the strike, as did “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” 
• Other strike-related news: ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 to Continue Filming Amid Writers Strike, All Scripts Were Finished (Variety); The Rings of Power to complete season 2 filming without showrunners amid writers’ strike (Entertainment Weekly); Starz Drama Series ‘The Venery Of Samantha Bird’ Pauses Production With Two Episodes Left To Shoot (Deadline); Hollywood Studios Start to Cut Pay for Producers Amid Strike (Bloomberg), and ‘Hacks’ Production Paused For Duration Of Writers Strike (Deadline).
• Paramount+ added 4.1 million subscribers in its most recent quarter to bring its total subscribers to 60 million, according to Paramount Global’s latest earnings report. The company, however, failed to meet Wall Street expectations as the streaming unit’s losses accounted for $511 million, up from $456 million in the year-earlier period, and its TV advertising revenue was down 11%. 
• Warner Bros. Discovery added 1.6 million global streaming subscribers in the last quarter to bring its total tally to 97.6 million subscribers, while its streaming department made $50 million in profit after it reported a $217 million loss in February. The company also named Jim Lee as president of DC Comics.
• Apple Inc. added 150 million paid subscribers for its digital services, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Arcade, in the past year to bring its total to 975 million paid subscribers, per the company’s second-quarter earnings figures.
• Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which owns Ticketmaster, said it has sold 90 million concert tickets this year, up 20% year over year, amid new tour announcements from stars like Beyoncé, Drake and Bruce Springsteen. 
• A New York jury found that Ed Sheeran did not steal major elements of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his hit song “Thinking Out Loud.”
• Paramount Network’s popular series “Yellowstone” will conclude at the end of its fifth season, the second half of which is scheduled to premiere in November. A currently untitled sequel series to the Kevin Costner-led vehicle is set to debut in December, with Matthew McConaughey reportedly in talks to star.
• Universal Pictures and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” took the top spot at the domestic box office for a fourth straight week with $40 million as it became the first animated film to pass $1 billion globally since 2019.

68%

That’s the share of U.S. adults who said content quality is a “major factor” in deciding whether to sign up for a video streaming service, compared with 62% who said price and 44% who said the amount of content were major factors, per media & entertainment analyst Kevin Tran’s latest Morning Consult memo.

1) Hollywood’s Franchise Frenzy Won’t Help Streamers Win Nonsubscribers

Kevin Tran, Morning Consult

2) Drake’s AI clone is here — and Drake might not be able to stop him

Mia Sato, The Verge

3) Stanley Tucci details ‘terrifying’ cancer battle, including 6 months with a feeding tube

Joyann Jeffrey, Today

4) Writers Guild Calls First Strike in 15 Years

Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter

5) James Gunn Created 600 Unique Versions of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ For Various Types of Cinemas

Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter

6) Nine Million People Have Watched The Full ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Illegally Posted On Twitter

Paul Tassi, Forbes

7) Tucker Carlson Fans Are More Wealthy and Conservative Than Fox News Fans

Saleah Blancaflor, Morning Consult

8) The chronically online third culture is redefining Asian America

Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC News

9) Hollywood Says a Writers Strike is Inevitable. But Why?

Lucas Shaw and Thomas Buckley, Bloomberg

10) TV Executives Whose Writers Are on Picket Line See Future for AI

Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg

• Florida legislature approves bill allowing board to cancel Disney deals (Reuters)
• NBCUniversal To Wind Down LX Network (Deadline)
• FTC pushes to ban Meta from profiting off children’s data (The Verge)
• TikTok Is Developing AI-Generated Video Disclosures as Deepfakes Rise (The Information)
• How the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike Changed ‘The Office’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ (Rolling Stone)
• Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’ (The New York Times)