Good morning. Today, movie makers tell IMAX, “You’re my only hope”; even the ESPN brand isn’t big enough to crack sports betting; and Ford’s electric F-150 could be gone in a flash.

Hollywood power players are making pilgrimages to IMAX headquarters to plead for access to the company’s supersize screens, Ben Fritz writes.

The wider domestic box office continues to suffer fewer hits, more flops and lower total receipts than before the pandemic, with ticket sales up just 2.6% this year from 2024. But IMAX sales are up 16%.

Studios now splash the IMAX name on ads, sometimes in bigger print than the movie title, to signal that their release is worth getting off a couch for.

This month’s remake of “The Running Man” was originally scheduled to be released today, but Paramount postponed it a week to secure IMAX screens committed this weekend to “Predator: Badlands.”

Executives call it the “premiumization” of the film business. And until more people start going to movies more often, it’s one of the industry’s best hopes.

ESPN is giving up on its self-branded sportsbook ESPN Bet and will integrate DraftKings’ products into its media portfolio instead, Isabella Simonetti writes.

Disney’s sports-media behemoth had announced a 10-year deal in 2023 that would let Penn Entertainment run a sportsbook under the ESPN name. But the effort failed to gain much traction in a market dominated by DraftKings and FanDuel. Sports betting has exploded in America, but smaller companies and later entrants have been unable to capture fans’ attention.

Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN chairman, said working together with “a leader in the space” will help ESPN’s direct-to-consumer business grow.

The ESPN Bet brand will continue to exist as a “sports betting content brand” and on the  “ESPN BET Live” show.

More: The demise of the ESPN Bet sportsbook may finally put an end to media companies’ dreams of turning their brands into betting powerhouses. [Sportico]

Ford executives are discussing whether to scrap the electric version of the F-150 pickup, hyped a few years ago by CEO Jim Farley as “a smartphone that can tow 10,000 pounds,” Sharon Terlep reports.

No decision has yet been made, according to people familiar with the talks, but such a move by Ford could be the beginning of the end for big EV trucks.

Overall EV sales are expected to plunge in the absence of government support. And large, electric pickups and SUVs are the most vulnerable.

“The demand is just not there” for F-150 Lightning and other full-size trucks, said Adam Kraushaar, owner of Lester Glenn Auto Group in New Jersey. “We don’t order a lot of them because we don’t sell them.”

Related: Here’s how Ford is updating its showroom experience to calm car buyers’ anxiety. [Detroit News]

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Wendy’s logged lower sales and profit in the third quarter as consumers continued to cut their spending at restaurants. [WSJ] 

Target is freeing some stores from duties fulfilling online orders so their employees can focus on keeping the shelves properly stocked and the aisles clean. [CNBC]

TikTok Shop is battling a surge of fake product listings created using generative AI. [BI] 

David Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery’s exploration of a possible sale of some or all of its holdings is briskly moving ahead. [WSJ] 

Enjoy Basketball, the digital media company reaching new audiences through a deal to bolster NBC’s NBA coverage, says sports fans are sick of the “talking heads and hot takes.” [OffBall] 

Condé Nast fired four staffers over a confrontation with HR about issues including the decision to move Teen Vogue under Vogue and lay off some employees including the editor-in-chief. [Semafor]

Take-Two Interactive again delayed the release date for “Grand Theft Auto VI,” this time to Nov. 19, 2026, from May. [WSJ] 

Did I manifest this news by recalling the original “Gremlins” in the newsletter yesterday? The directors of this summer’s “Final Destination” and the writer of 1984’s “Gremlins” are working together on “Gremlins 3.” [THR] 

The Vulture team at New York Magazine ranked streaming services’ pre-show sound effects from No. 10 (Amazon) to No. 1 (it’s not “tudum”). [Vulture]