A24 & Angel Studios’ Bubble Trouble
Plus: A top agent on animation’s arrival — big money + huge market
The timing of our Ankler x Web Summit cocktail party co-hosted by Ankler Media CEO Janice Min and Web Summit’s Casey Lau during LA Tech Week on Wednesday couldn’t have been more prescient, coming on the heels of Hollywood’s full-on AI meltdown (see Erik Barmack’s huge scorchers on ChatGPT-5 and Sora-2 for why). It felt like high time to get more (not less) conversation going between Silicon Valley and entertainment stakeholders with guests including Albert Cheng, head of AI Studios at Amazon MGM Studios; Vermillio’s Kathleen Grace; WME’s Chris Jacquemin and Courtney Braun; CAA’s Alexandra Shannon, and more players from OpenAI, Netflix, and ByteDance.
The next day, on a magically gorgeous night at Vista House, tucked under the Hollywood sign, The Ankler and Pure Nonfiction hosted our latest Documentary Spotlight event, with Thom Powers interviewing some of this year’s leading documentary filmmakers, from Jamie Gonçalves (Predators) to Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman (The Alabama Solution). Stay tuned later this week for more from the event…
Meanwhile, Sean McNulty took the stage Tuesday at the DPAA Summit in NYC with Warner Bros. Pictures marketing co-heads Dana Nussbaum and Christian Davin. Don’t miss this conversation!
And this weekend, Sean, Richard Rushfield, Christopher Rosen and I are with our partners at the Montclair Film Festival. Sean and Richard held a lively state-of-the-industry chat yesterday with producer Ryan Hawke, Kino Lorber’s Lisa Schwartz and WME’s Jamie Pillet, and Chris will host a panel today with Bleecker Street president and CMO Tyler DiNapoli and the fest’s artistic director, Tom Hall.
Lastly! Janice will be at the center of one of the fall’s special celebrations on Nov. 7 at The WICT Network: SoCal’s LEA Awards, where she’ll be honored alongside Disney’s Simran Sethi, Apple TV’s Shannon Willett and other superstar women leading in entertainment. Join us there!
Now, ICYMI, here’s more of our best of the week:
Entertainment Strategy Guy: A24 & Angel
ESG spots bubble trouble ahead for Angel Studios and A24, two indies with infinite hype and eye-popping valuations as they face the reality of economic gravity and the tyranny of the box office (A24’s Smashing Machine — not a smash):
Dealmakers: UTA Agent on Animation Mania
UTA’s Strawn Dixon, who reps KPop Demon Hunters’ Maggie Kang and Moana 2 helmer David G. Derrick Jr., tells Ashley Cullins why animated film is grabbing bigger share of audience every year as deals get bigger and originals surge:
Series Business: Reality Market; ‘L&O’ vs. NBA
In a tighter, cheaper, louder market for nonfiction TV, top agents tell Elaine Low why only the boldest ideas — and noisiest pitches — are breaking through, detail current budgets and lay out which formats are at a premium (and the one not working):
Lesley Goldberg compares the numbers of 30 Rock’s $2.45B NBA gamble, elbowing at least three hours of entertainment TV off of the weekly lineup, against the costs of Dick Wolf’s procedural empire — and declares a winner as sports and scripted face off:
Richard Rushfield: Ay-Yi-AI!
Silicon Valley didn’t conquer Hollywood, Richard writes, they managed to clone it — so why are our industry leaders so quiet in response? As the AI panic approaches something like a primal scream, Richard sees the Tilly Norwood chatter as mere distraction from the coming war:
Prestige Junkie: Best Actress Battle & Bradley
With the death of former best actress Oscar winner Diane Keaton fresh in her mind, Katey Rich surveys the current field, where one contender stands above all others. Plus: Twelve-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper unveils his latest movie, a marital drama where he plays a supporting character named “Balls”:
The Wakeup
Sean’s enterprising digging unearthed numbers revealing how national ad spends are shrinking along with streamer cutbacks — and became his most popular read of the week; he also dug into CNN’s return to the D2C game (pour one out for CNN+), and Netflix’s Millie Bobby Brown move:
Our Shows
Monday Morning QBs: This week on our live box office show, Richard and Sean try to figure out who Tron: Ares was even for as the Disney sequel underwhelms.
Rushfield Lunch: Richard has been calling Delia Cai one of the bright lights on the internet, and his conversation with the Deez Links writer did nothing to dispel that notion. An honorary member of Gen Z, Delia guides Richard through all that is delightfully insane about the online world — and does it without having our beloved Gen Xer sound like the Steve Buscemi 30 Rock meme in human form.
Diane Keaton’s 5 Best Movies, Debated: Richard, Katey and Chris dive into the late Oscar winner’s legacy, including her biggest hits (Annie Hall, The Godfather and Something’s Gotta Give) and some surprising personal faves.
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Elaine, Natalie and Sean break down the market forces leading to a TV plot twist worthy of The Traitors: reality TV’s revenge. Inside the genres working, what Netflix has to do with it and why non-scripted is thriving when scripted isn’t.
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