Happy Mother’s Day! I took the “over” on $200 million for Doctor Strange, so I will accept defeat after it came in at a still-very-good $185 million domestic this weekend ($450 million worldwide)…

Discussed in this issue: Reed Hastings, Lina Plath, Frank Langella, Tom Cruise, Patty McCord, David Rubin, Michael Shamberg, Rich Paul, Mike Myers, Andrew Dice Clay, and the grave of Carl Laemmle.

Nobody won the week, so let’s start by asking…

What do you think the Academy could do and should do to improve the Oscars?

Um, how about, fewer assaults? I’m joking, but since Oscars just suffered through perhaps the most embarrassing scandal in live TV history, it might have been instructive to ask members how they think the Will Smith slap and, especially, its aftermath, were handled by the leadership of the organization. My guess is that Academy C.E.O. Dawn Hudson and president David Rubin didn’t ask that question because they don’t want to know the answer.

–Frank Langella, detailing his communication with an H.R. executive at the streamer that led to his firing from The Fall of the House of Usher after allegedly touching an actress’ leg during a love scene.

A little more on this:

I’m told that Langella, 84, is interviewing L.A. litigators to potentially fight Netflix over his dismissal from the series...

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Amid all this, and given the level of chatter and schadenfreude around town, it’s important to note what is, and isn’t, happening. Yes, the planned spending growth has been halted. Pricey projects are getting a second look. (Unfortunately, the Mike Myers debacle The Pentaverate—the first episode of which consumed 31 minutes of time I will never get back—could not be stopped.) The pressure is definitely on TV chief Bela Bajaria and film head Scott Stuber to deliver more hits with those insane content budgets.

But those budgets are still there. Netflix is planning to spend $17 billion to $18 billion on TV and film content this year, well above rivals—and in most foreign territories, the spending will continue to grow...