☀️ Box Office Freeze-Out ☃️ as 'Mercy' Wins
College 🏀 TV audiences rivals NBA / LGF skips CINEMACON preso / ANONYMOUS gets new leader
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, January 25, 2026.
Where between repeatedly assuring Americans that their everyday subpar economic experiences are just wrong . . . suggesting that people should essentially be ‘doing their own science’ on Polio vaccines and likening it to alcoholism diseases . . . and now positioning an ICU nurse at the VA as a domestic terrorist who “wanted to do maximum damage” to try and justify Trump’s secret police force execution of a man for simply trying to help another citizen in plain daylight on a city street — the U.S. government is testing doublespeak in ways that are both unfathomable and dangerous.
I know some readers voted for Trump, and I also like to think you didn’t vote for stances like this. I’ll simply share the words President Obama said this afternoon, with this latest event serving as a “wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
How folks choose to vote, and how our industry executives choose to handle their business and actions will play out under an even greater microscope in the year ahead.
BUT: I heard the Melania premiere went great last night in D.C., with AMAZON bigwigs Andy Jassy & Mike Hopkins mingling with the who’s who of . . . well, Mike Tyson, Tony Robbins, the CEO of ZOOM and others.
AND: Always nice when one of our Hollywood studio CEOs makes nearly as much in annual compensation (Bob Iger, $46M) as one of Wall Street’s biggest banks (GOLDMAN CEO David Solomon, $47M). Granted — his bank’s stock was +53% in 2025, while DISNEY stock was basically flat in 2025 . . . but hey, hard work is hard work, amirite?
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Turns out my fellow Mercy 36%’ers and I won out! Take that, snow. 🙄
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
