☀️ PSKY’s Linear TV Options With Bonta

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Tuesday, August 25, 2026.

Where you can say a lot of things about PARAMOUNT . . . but you can’t say it doesn’t act quickly. Well. At least on the film front.

Less than 2 weeks after Matthew McConaughey revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days was the movie that still pays him the biggest residual checks . . . PAR has put a sequel into development with Kate Hudson and Stacey Sher producing.

Even better — they need a writer in case you have a hot take you’ve been telling your friends about for the past 23 years.

But let’s look at the real winner here: journalism!

First The Devil Wears Prada returns, then 13 Going On 30 is on deck at NETFLIX and now this — the magazine business is on the comeback! Can’t wait for the Perfect remake.

OH GREAT: NYC is losing another movie theater, as the AMC Kips Bay and its 15 auditoriums are closing at year’s end. The landlord is terminating the lease . . . but I’m sure the condos that I’m guessing will go up in its place will be totally awesome.

BUT: REGAL is launching a rewards program called REGAL REWARDS+ (wait, we’re still seriously doing the + thing?).

• $11 a month gets you a “2D” (aka regular) movie ticket a month that doesn’t expire, 20% concession discounts, waived convenience fees when buying tix online and discounts on other tickets.

GOOD NEWS: DISNEY found a new #pricehike! ESPN D2C is raising prices ahead of the fall sports season:

• ESPN UNLIMITED: $32 a month (+$2)
• ESPN SELECT (fka ESPN+): $14 (+$1)

AND: DISNEY is asking if any folks want to, uh, retire early — at least if you’re at the Director through EVP level.

• The VERO (Voluntary Early Retirement Offer) includes severance pay, continued vesting of stock awards, healthcare at active-employee rates and — most importantly — continued Silver Pass access to the theme parks. You’ll have to pay for your own ESPN, though — this isn’t a charity.
• HOWEVER: No more health benefits for spouses of DISNEY employees if they have access to healthcare through their jobs. Uh, you doing ok, DISNEY?

NEW PODS:

The Ankler’s Christopher Rosen and I break down how the massive Odyssey IMAX numbers are affecting the other movies in the marketplace — plus our takeaways from the new poll about moviegoing among different demographics in my latest Box Office Pod. #ServiceYourCoreCustomersFirst

THEN: Elaine Low had another revealing conversation with Rob Bonta about yesterday’s developments and what lies ahead in the WARNAMOUNT saga.

FINALLY: Mark the calendar for Oct. 11, and note to self — find every 30 Rock contact I have. I hear the after-after-after-after party is gonna be off the chain.

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💻 The Media Biz

How do you solve a problem like WARNAMOUNT — TV Edition

I’m sure you’re all up to speed on the talks that were supposed to happen between the state AGs and PSKY yesterday — and didn’t.

• TL;DR: California AG Rob Bonta didn’t appreciate the WSJ story that revealed some details from “people familiar with the matter” about the prelim talks between legal teams that had occurred on Friday — discussions that set the stage for the since-aborted meeting planned for Monday with the big dogs. So, he canceled the meeting.

• Note that PAR management said they were not the aforementioned “familiar people,” so maybe it was the cleaning staff reaching out to the WSJ tip line.

Namely, those potential broad deal stipulations would involve:

1. The WB studio remaining as a stand-alone operation with little interference from Ellison.
2. WARNAMOUNT agreeing to sell off some number of cable TV networks.

Note that Rob Bonta said those notions are “misrepresented” in his interview with The Ankler . . . but didn’t add much color, choosing to keep private negotiations, well, ya know, private.

But that aside:

• The first one is a bit of a thinker, at minimum, as to how that might work (and it also sounds more like a behavioral remedy than a structural one).
  • Note that the investment banker community is at least fishing around for interest in NEW LINE CINEMA (and its LOTR and IT IP in tow) according to Bloomberg — not that this notion would likely solve the antitrust lawsuit issue . . . but all ideas are certainly on the table.
• Thus, let’s really dial into what that 2nd one would look like involving the cable TV network business, and the feasibility of the . . . limited options PSKY has here.