☀️55+ Powers ‘Melania’; ‘Send Help’ & YOUTUBER Pic Pop
Feds seal NFL/DISNEY deal / HBOMAX cop show casts up / UNI sets ‘Fast’ farewell
Evenin! 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 SUNDAY, February 1, 2026.
Where the Wambsgans(s) name still can’t seem to get any respect, even though Succession’s been off the air for over 2 years.
Conservative activist and PATRIOT MOBILE exec Leigh Wambsganss just lost a special election runoff in Texas for a state senate seat by 14 points (she was the, uh, Republican candidate) in a Fort Worth-area district that Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
She also outspent her Democratic Air Force veteran aircraft mechanic and union leader opponent, Taylor Rehmet, 10 to 1. The two will face each other again in November for a full 4-year term, as part of the overall midterm elections that’ll have a wider turnout.
ALSO: Here are your Sundance winners, with the Channing Tatum/Gemma Chan pic Josephine taking home the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.
KUDOS: To Steven Spielberg, and his newly achieved EGOT status! I had no idea about his rapping skills. Grammys winners will update here if you’re in need.
Also enjoy the Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer that will drop tonight/I’d think also will be promoted in the show.
AND: In case there were any questions, FOX ONE confirmed it will be the streaming home for the FIFA men’s World Cup ⚽️ this summer.
PLUS: SNL is the latest entity to jump on the Heated Rivalry bandwagon, setting Connor Storrie to host on Feb. 28 with musical guest Mumford & Sons (the show is now off through the Winter Olympics).
YAH: If you want a snapshot at what’s happened to the box office since Covid / the advent of 17- to 31-day PVOD policies, this CNBC chart sums it up quite well.
The Top 10 movies each year are still making about the same amount of money (not adjusted for inflation) . . . but that “singles & doubles” tail has been chopped off.
It’s also impressive to see just what the MARVEL red-hot run in the later part of the 2010s did to juice the overall Top 10 💰.
YES: Just 2 of the 5 Best Song Oscar nominees will be performed during the show this year, and I’m pretty sure they’re just gonna do “Golden” twice. Ah, wait, I see Sinners snuck in there, too.
THEN: Gotta love KALSHI and still illegal POLYMARKET gambling prediction apps seemingly keeping a policy of posting false news headlines #fakenews on their social accounts. 💩🔥
GOOD NEWS: The geniuses in Silicon Valley have now built an AI-bot social network called MOLTBOT, where bots can connect with each other and talk about all the dumb shit you’re asking it to do 😂. Yeah, I really don’t think “The advent of AI is the same as the onset of the Internet” hot takes are going to hold up much longer.
OH: APPLE made its 2nd biggest acquisition ever last week — no, not LIONSGATE . . . but rather an Israeli startup called Q.AI for about $2B according to the FT (BEATS was $3B in 2014).
It focuses on “silent” communication technology, or essentially using AI to read people’s thoughts through their facial expressions or ticks. Totally not creepy at all — I look forward to the social posts in 2035 looking back at the quaint times of 2025.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
A good start to the year for my fellow bulls, with another victory on Send Help.
Always underestimate creator culture at your own peril . . . is what I should have said to myself on Friday. Kudos to the 22% bulls.
Wakeup HOUSEKEEPING:
Usually, there’s no Monday Wakeup as this comes to you Sunday night — but I’ll have a breakdown of all the DISNEY numbers to know at NYC lunchtime tomorrow.
The DISNEY board will also meet this week, according to the WSJ, presumably to seal the new CEO decision and finally vote on the new drapes’ color for the conference room.
Iger has also reportedly told folks he’s gonna ✌️💨 before the end of the year — and yes, the yacht talk has returned.
So, I’ll just pencil in DISNEY’s early Nov. 2026 earnings call as Iger’s last . . . especially as it’ll round out DISNEY’s FY26.
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
So, the dead of winter and the movies . . . who knew? A robust offering — thriller, horror video game pic, presidential bribe, action pic — drew a nicely robust response!
And, if you’re one of the 16k people who got laid off from AMAZON last week . . . I’m sure you’re thrilled that the company just spent $75M on a box office bomb used to (seemingly) curry political favor.
Ok, yes, the $40M AMAZON check also includes a still-to-come docuseries on the first lady as well (which will also likely add to that $35M of marketing spend, too). Totally worth it.
But in the end, Hollywood’s baffling amnesia about family audiences in wintertime gave us another deficit overall YoY — more on that below, so let’s get to it.