☀️ Big Movie Biz Q3, New Wall St. Questions

Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026.

Where the sense of reckoning in this country continues this week, and (I’m told) a beloved favorite could be done for.

Yes, the class action lawsuit against the McRib got a 👍 to proceed this month, with plaintiffs arguing that it’s essentially false advertising since there’s no actual “rib meat” in the McRib — ah, sorry, I forgot there are kids reading this. My bad.

MCDONALD’S may have run into trouble in its defense when noting that the “seasoned boneless pork” product has a “Mc” before the “Rib” part to identify it as a MCDONALD’S product, so . . . all good!

However, the judge shrewdly pointed out that the problem wasn’t the “prefix” but the “suffix,” also revealing that “the McFlurry does not come accompanied by a small snowstorm.” Well done, judge.

YEAH: Gotta love APPLE being the latest company to cut internal AI budgets / spends per employee, lowering daily token-spending caps according to Bloomberg. So, some employees may have to start actually writing their own emails and Slack notes again! 😱

OH: Voters also reacted negatively to funding arenas for sports teams in Texas, with Dallas-area voters rejecting a proposal to impose new taxes on things like hotels, rental cars and tickets to fund a new arena for the NHL’s DALLAS STARS.

ALSO: This NY Times chart is quite striking in Texas, too.

AND: I know JD Vance was getting most of the headlines yesterday, but leave it to good ol’ Mitt Romney to sum up 2 years of issues rather succinctly in a tweet:

• “Erratic tariffs, impulsive Iran war, blanket pardons, apparent corruption, weaponized justice, ICE brutality, mountainous deficits, hiding Epstein, abandoning allies and coddling enemies.”

THEN: Russell Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault in the U.K. this morning.

WAKEUP Box Office Prediction

It seems GKIDS Godzilla Minus Zero is set to lead the way this weekend with $30M, with sentiment seemingly rising a bit over the last couple of weeks.

WB’s Cat in the Hat looks like it’ll need a strong word-of-mouth run, with estimates at $20M to $25M to start — and some think even $20M is optimistic.

I’ll take $30M to $33M on Godzilla, and go $19M to $23M on Cat in the Hat.

Contact Me / Subscribe

Connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like, or email me anytime at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com.

---

📉 Earnings Season

Q3 Movie Theater Biz Health

Did you hear how well Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey did this year?!

Well, here’s how that looks on the balance sheets of America’s #1 and #3 movie chains, AMC THEATRES and CINEMARK, which both set records — as did IMAX, thanks to what Christopher Nolan did for its financial ledgers (again).

Sadly, #2 theater chain REGAL is private and does not release numbers, no matter how nicely I ask.

So, since we had both AMC and CINEMARK reports this week — it’s helpful to lay their comps side by side, as AMC THEATRES did something it hasn’t done since Covid!

Alas, note that there will be no Cliff Booth for CINEMARK — it said it likes the revenue prospects from keeping Hunger Games on its IMAX screens instead.

Let’s dive into the insights, and why Wall Street had its own reaction.