FYI: Ankler Alert is our new newsletter for timely takes on the moment’s top stories. Add newsletter@mail.theankler.com to your contacts and address book and never miss an email.
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, July 30, 2026.
Where the movie theater business had a fun day yesterday.
First, CINEMA UNITED CEO Michael O’Leary put out a new statement to movie theater owners about the movie theater owner trade group’s continued stance as being against the WARNAMOUNT deal.
“The promises of support for theatrical being made in the media are high-level and unenforceable and as such do nothing to alleviate the harms.”
He also said he sent PARAMOUNT “a comprehensive list of our concerns to move the discussions forward” on July 1 following a meeting the previous month, but has not heard back since.
Then, the CEO of the largest movie theater chain, AMC THEATRES, put out his own column with . . . this take.
I’m sure everyone was very happy #3 U.S. movie theater chain CINEMARK was not asked about the deal on its earnings call today.
AND: The latest collab between WB and COSM is an enhanced “shared reality” experience for the movie IT, launching Aug. 28.
ALSO: CBS is giving Byron Allen 2 hours of primetime on Tuesday, Sept. 29, for a Comics Unleashed 20th anniversary special.
KUDOS: To Ben Affleck for winning Who Wants to Be A Millionaire last night (alongside Jeopardy! champ Jamie Ding). The $1M prize will go toward Affleck’s EASTERN CONGO INITIATIVE.
AH: Let’s throw potentially higher drug prices for many seniors on Medicare in 2027 onto the list of super favorable Trump administration policy developments for the midterm elections.
- Although Dr. Oz asserted, “Premiums will go up by less than $10 for most Medicare recipients, with many even seeing LOWER premiums.” So, we’ll see how it comes out in the wash in ’27. Eh, old people don’t really notice things like the price of their medicines anyway, right?
- Just another U.S. healthcare #funfact — health insurance costs for NYC’s MTA employees are expected to rise 46% from 2025 to 2030 alone.
THEN: Here is your venue update for Sundance 2027 in Boulder, Colo. (all within a 2-square-mile proximity), as the 4 central competition categories — U.S. Dramatic, World Cinema Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, and World Cinema Documentary — will now consist of 12 films each.
THANKS: To the folks at PAR+ for the invite to check out the season 3 premiere of Lioness in NYC last night, whose many practical action scenes reminded me of a series I worked on at CINEMAX many moons ago called Strike Back. Well done! Plus, always fun to see the series showrunner up there on the screen too in a considerable role.
WAKEUP Box Office Prediction
Well, the sky’s the limit on Spider-Man this weekend. The base seems like $200M; optimists see this as high as $250M or even $280M.
No Way Home opened to $260M in 2021 — granted, a bit more going on as a cumulative narrative on that one, but that was also coming out of Covid, and factor in 5 years of inflation.
I’ll go $245M to $260M myself.
📉 Earnings Season
Don’t stop here
Get the rest of this story — and the scoops and intelligence Hollywood reads first.
Already a subscriber?
