☀️ AMAZON Taking ‘Heat 2’ After WB 💰 Impasse
Ari makes new company official / Latest PAR PICS exec exit / Kimmel audiences update
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, October 8, 2025.
Where ya gotta love 82-year-old COWBOYS owner Jerry Jones saying he “just put up the wrong show of my hand” when giving JETS fans a brief 🖕 during the game in Jersey on Sunday, and that “the intention was thumbs-up.”
Which is the same thing Richard tells me every time I come to L.A. Maybe I need to start fining him $250k like the NFL did to Jerry. 🤔
AND: HULU has reportedly broken up with Bill Belichick, pulling out of its planned docuseries on his first UNC football season — which is turning into a disaster. Ya know, I’m beginning to come around to the idea that Tom Brady may have had something to do with the PATRIOTS’ success . . . 🤔.
THEN: Gotta love those Wicked: For Good tickets going on sale already today.
UNI also partnered with AMAZON PRIME to give its members access to an early screening on Nov. 17.
PLUS: AMAZON PV is going full-on sports for a pretty big Black Friday next month, adding a revival of the Skins Game one-day golf tournament — 4 golfers (Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley) play a round and compete for money on each hole. PRO SHOP and PROPAGATE are producing with the PGA.
9 a.m.: The Skins Game (PGA)
3 p.m.: BEARS at EAGLES (NFL)
7:30 p.m.: BUCKS at KNICKS (NBA)
10 p.m.: MAVS at LAKERS (NBA)
YAH: The company that owns the NYSE is investing $2B into (still currently illegal in the U.S.) betting predictions market POLYMARKET . . . so it can’t be too long before folks can bet hedge against a NY GIANTS game and the COMCAST Q3 earnings report in the same interface. 🙏
ADD: NVIDIA participating in the latest $20B fundraising round in Elon’s xAI to the list of “funding snake eating its revenue tail” AI evolution developments we’ve been seeing over the past few months.
ALTHOUGH: This time a SPAC is involved in the mix too! So yeah, nothing to see here folks.
Axios’ Scott Rosenberg described the situation as a growing “blob” this morning — always a flattering description — concluding “The more entangled AI firms get with one another, the more likely any setback to one will turn into a calamity for all.”
Either way — gonna make for one heck of a Michael Lewis book by the end of the decade (PLAN B, you in to produce?).
THEN: Nice of LeBron to re-live one of the dumbest events in sports history by teasing a “Second Decision” to . . . sell some cognac. Wow.
Between this crap and that horrible Snoop Dogg “I’m giving up smoke” tease gimmick to sell some outdoor fireplaces in the last Super Bowl — please put a moratorium on this garbage going forward, ad biz. Thx.
BTW: LeBron’s business partner Maverick Carter is no longer involved with that global “F1 for Basketball” league in the works, which still has plans to launch next year. The league no one is asking for would likely play in the roughly same calendar window as the NBA season.
Just a reminder that AMAZON and ESPN’s new NBA deals that begin this month each have an international streaming rights component.
IN THIS EDITION
Yes, the Heat 2 news is exciting — but keep in mind the 💰 here and the history Mann has with a large part of the moviegoing audience, plus the franchise age itself.
The AMAZON move also apparently freed up some money at WB to approve the 💰 for another high profile pic. 👀
Exec moves at PAR and UTA, with cuts on the way at NBC NEWS and the official birth of Ari’s new company.
Plus its NETFLIX Films chart day, with recent theatrical pics showing once again the power of their draw on the service.
The latest in sports ratings, Kimmel numbers and much more.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
