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 Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

Where Mike Myers simply said “Yes” when asked on Trevor Noah’s World Cup show this week if we’ll see an Austin Powers 4.

No other details there about WB/NLC potentially testing whether this property is more millennial early-2000s . . . or Gen X ’90s in theatrical moviegoer appeal.

Add in the new Shrek 5 teaser trailer yesterday, and his new Dr. Evil VERIZON ad campaign airing in the World Cup this week (does Dr. Evil somehow look “younger” now, or just me?), and . . . things are coming up Myers! #20YearNostalgiaCycle

NICE: CBS is indeed paying for the Peanuts music use that Colbert put in his finale last month, with LEE MENDELSOHN FILM PRODUCTIONS donating the money to the WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN.

OH: Your latest microdrama player entrant? PROCTOR & GAMBLE! The WSJ dives into how 1950s TV tactics are back in the digital age. Enjoy Rico Tacos on your next trip to an ALBERTSONS (they have those in Cannes, right?).

BTW: No more MEDIALINK Beach at Cannes next week — meet UTA Beach! Be sure to apply extra sunscreen as they take 10% of the SPF out of it. 🥁

GOOD NEWS: APPLE AIRPODS will soon be watching everything we all do — APPLE will be introducing cameras to the “headphones” by late 2027, according to Bloomberg.

Don’t worry, they’re not for picture taking — rather, they’re just there so SIRI can watch everything you’re doing. Oh ok, carry on.

AND: The Rocky Horror Picture Show will be the next pic to take over The Sphere in Vegas, sometime next year.

YEAH: A report in Semafor that NETFLIX was interested in LIONSGATE popped LGF stock 14% yesterday, but turned out to be . . . not accurate, according to the company, with LGF stock -5% after hours.

Essentially, the WBD bid has now put NETFLIX in pretty much any entertainment business deal / “for sale” conversations that come up in the marketplace — a NETFLIX interest in ROKU was also cited by Semafor, with NETFLIX clarifying it never made a bid.
If I were an investment banker — I’d be giving them a call too, but keep some perspective on what is likely “Sure, we’ll take a look” . . . and what actually turns into a real negotiation.
At least IMAX may remain outside even the most creative imaginations.

AH: FOX is making $200k per ad in the World Cup hydration breaks, scaling up to as much as $750k for USA games. The breaks sometimes have 5 ads, so that’s at least $1M per break, or over $3M for USA games.

This is on top of FOX already getting a great World Cup rights price deal from FIFA this year at just under $500M to make up for FIFA’s decision to hold the 2022 tournament in the middle of a desert during NFL season.

OH: OPENAI spent over 50% of the cash it generated in Q1, with spending at $3.7B and revenue at $5.7B, according to The Information. Both financial metrics 3x’d from a year ago . . . but it doesn’t seem like much has changed in the ratio.

OPENAI also had a net loss of $38.5B in 2025 on $13B of revenue (hence why AI companies like OPENAI and ANTHROPIC always report “annual run rate” revenue numbers and not . . . actual numbers), according to internal audit documents obtained by journalist Ed Zitron, and verified by the FT. What is this, the streaming business in 2019?
The Operating Loss was lower, at about $21B (there were significant additional costs involved in converting from non-profit to for-profit).
- But the marketing spend was $5.7B last year. R&D was $19B of costs.

GRANTED: This is 3rd party data on global music streaming subscriptions from a firm called MIDIA, but here’s how paid music subs looked globally at the end of 2025, which hit a 921M global total. The Top 5:

SPOTIFY: 31.4% (it reported 290M global paid subs to close 2025, so that seems directionally accurate for this chart’s data)
TENCENT (China): 13.8%
APPLE MUSIC: 12.6%
YOUTUBE MUSIC: 12.4% (and the largest share gainer YoY)
AMAZON MUSIC: 8.5%

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID: Couple of stats to note this week.

VANGUARD said that a record 6% of its 5M-ish 401(k) participants made early withdrawals in 2025, up from 5% in 2024.
- Avoiding home foreclosure or eviction (36%) and medical expenses (31%) were the top 2 reasons.
- Half of folks who withdrew funds in 2025 did so more than once.
This chart👇 just screams 2026 Corporate America confidence in the economy.

I’m sure it’ll also help the housing inventory issue in America (btw the biggest drop was in multifamily housing construction).
The current average U.S. mortgage interest rate is about 6.55%, and a lotta eyes on the new Fed chief as he leads his first Board of Governors meeting of his tenure this week.

GOLF CLAP: To the UNI marketing group for this, uh, well — activation seems like too small of a word . . . but no words are really necessary for a Minions & Monsters promo like this on Sunset.