☀️ CAA, TPG Re-Team To Spend In Creator Biz

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 Thursday, June 11, 2026.

Where it’s too bad “Ya Gotta Believe” is a phrase already taken by the METS in NYC . . . but clearly the takeaway from last night at MSG is Taylor > Trump.

But as a KNICKS fan, it’s just great to have this moment 👇 to erase the Charles Smith 4-rejections-in-a-row game-ending playoff “highlight” from the BULLS series in 1993 as the top clip we’ll think of for KNICKS playoff basketball going forward.

One more win to go, just as the METS had to do after their equivalent moment when Mookie Wilson‘s ground ball went through the legs of Bill Buckner in 1986 . . . and we may need to figure out a catchy name for this OG Anunoby tip-in to go with David Tyree‘s “helmet catch” in the GIANTS Super Bowl win over the PATS in 2008.

But, first things first — good luck competing for NYC’s attention with Game 5 on Saturday, World Cup launch at MET LIFE Stadium.

So, whose PJ🛩️ are we taking to San Antonio?

OH: Thanks to Ben Stiller for being on the up and up about not paying for his tickets nor being a KNICKS season ticket holder. He’s also reportedly shooting footage on his iPhone for a mystery doc project about the season, which could be at HBO.

PLUS: My go-to sports source of Town & Country has a decent roundup of celeb shots from the game for the inclined — not too much on the exec front outside of Zaz, Shapiro and GOLDMAN CEO David Solomon.

ALSO: That Trump-spooked NBA Finals Game 3 got 23.8M viewers on ABC Monday night, up significantly from 16.9M and 16.4M for the first 2 games in San Antonio.

It was also the biggest NBA game since Game 5 of the CAVS / WARRIORS series in 2017 (as usual, not accounting for the boosts in audience counting from NIELSEN BIG DATA + PANEL and out-of-home audience counting since 2020).
AND: The NHL Stanley Cup audience keeps growing as well, hitting 5.05M viewers on ABC for Game 3 Saturday night, up from 4.7M and 4.8M for the previous 2 games.
As per usual, zero ESPN D2C streaming data is reported.

AND: As part of the proceedings in a copyright lawsuit, GOOGLE asserted that it can, essentially, do whatever it wants with content that you upload to YOUTUBE in terms of training its AI efforts (per YT’s terms of service agreement that every account must agree to)

BUT: GOOGLE got a bit of a shock to the system in a German court, which ruled that GOOGLE is liable for the info presented in “AI summary” results.

The judge reached the logical conclusion that, unlike search — where information is expressly presented as coming from other sources — AI summaries are from GOOGLE’s own product . . . which is responsible for any lies or mistakes it may make. More to come.

YAH: Australia’s kids social media ban sounds like it’s going about as effectively as you might think, given how easy it is to put in false account information or fool the tech with fake mustaches, etc.

But, there’s hope that it’ll provide cover for younger kids who aren’t already addicted to social media in the years to come, according to the NYT.

SO: The Trump family has made $2.3B from crypto ~~scams~~ business ventures in Trump 2.0 . . . while 1M investors in those ventures have lost a collective, uh, $2.3B, according to a Reuters investigation. Anyone got the KALSHI odds on that?

YUP: A public interest group called Citizens for Constitutional Integrity has filed a federal lawsuit against the FCC for a lack of sharing of Brendan Carr text messages in a FOIA request to see communications from the Chairman on the matter of the great Kimmel offensive of fall 2025.

WELL: They say AI speeds things up, and that apparently includes business cycles — now, an OPENAI / ANTHROPIC price-cutting war may already be brewing, with OPENAI considering “drastic price cuts” according to the WSJ.

This is in response to the growing feedback from companies that they’re spending too much on AI (or not seeing the according 💰 results to justify it).
I’m sure that’ll go over great with the investor markets; they love lower profit margins!

SPEAKING OF: XBOX’s profit margins are potentially down to as little as 3% according to The Information, as layoffs loom at the MICROSOFT division.

Essentially, revenue is -$500M over the past 5 years, while hardware and game development costs increased by . . . $20B+ over that time frame. 😱 But wait, I thought gaming was the thing that was going to save Hollywood!

YAH: ORACLE’s CapEx annual spending hit $55.7B in its latest FY, above its previous $50B projections. While it increased its annual profit expectations, it also said it’s gonna raise an additional $20B via debt and equity/stock sales . . . which Wall Street wasn’t crazy about, sending ORCL stock -10% after hours last night.

AMAZON also just sealed a deal for $17.5B more in loans to draw from at CITIBANK with a 3-year re-pay window.

OH: As SPACEX prepares to go public, it’s now facing a class action lawsuit in Mississippi from folks who own houses near one of its data centers, over the noise and nuisance created by the gas turbines powering the center . . . thus lowering property values and general health.

WAKEUP Box Office Prediction

Disclosure Day has arrived from UNI . . . and if you’re feeling conservative, $35M to $40M seems to be the way to go.

If you’re feeling bullish on the younger demos also coming out to experience a Spielberg sci-fi movie on the big screen this weekend, perhaps around $45M or even $50M.

I’ll go with $42M to $47M myself.

FINALLY: While I’m generally not one to engage much with industry awards, last night the MONTCLAIR FILM org in my home state of NJ launched the first Montclair in Manhattan event in NYC to celebrate all things NJ and movies (the NJ Governor was there and everything!).

It included a recognition for someone who’s worked tirelessly to celebrate film “across the Hudson River” and give NJ residents a film festival to both enjoy and be proud of each year with top-notch programming — while also working to establish programs to build the next generations of industry talent in NJ — in Evie McGee Colbert. She also received the first Evelyn Colbert Visionary Tribute Award — and there’s also little I appreciate more than folks getting an award named after themselves. #bonus

New Jersey is seemingly humming with production these days, and that didn’t happen overnight, nor did that emphasis of support for NJ’s creative workforce just appear out of nowhere — so a thanks to Evie for leading MONTCLAIR FILM over the past decade plus (with efforts begun long before that) and working with her husband Stephen to further build a community in the state to support and celebrate an industry near and dear to my heart.