☀️ CHARTER Q2: Cable TV Bundle Loss Worsens
A24's new money strikes yet again / BLUMHOUSE buys back TV stake / HULU gets more Kardashians
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, July 26, 2024.
Where I’ve got some good news for NETFLIX! Given that its “Jaws on the Seine” pic Under Paris is its #3 movie so far in 2024 — how do you outdo yourself?
Ladies and gentlemen of NETFLIX, I give you the movie pitch of . . . Blow Sharks! It seems Brazilian researchers tested 13 sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and they had cocaine in their systems at levels up to 100x more than in previously observed marine life.
Naturally, it’s completely unrelated to Cocaine Bear (for legal reasons), although the sequel possibilities are endless — you in for a collab UNI?
PLUS: SAG-AFTRA is back on strike, this time against the major video game companies. The union has been in the re-negotiation process for a new Interactive Media Agreement for about 2 years now, and enough’s enough.
WB GAMES, DISNEY CHARACTER VOICES and EPIC GAMES, of which DISNEY is a minority investor, are part of the struck companies list.
AND: This is a fun Bloomberg chart to see in an era of ever-present streaming price hikes. Have fun with the NBA-related hikes next year.
HEY GOOGLE 👋: OPENAI is testing a SEARCH GPT product, which yes is an AI-backed search engine tool.
AHA: If you’re wondering where tech is putting some of that “well-deserved” cash . . . look no further than protecting kids “influencing” politicians of course.
AI is also learning this racket — lobbying 💰 spending increase from Q1 to Q2 this year, courtesy of Axios:
OPENAI: $460,000 (+35%)
ANTHROPIC: $150,000 (+50%)
C3 AI: $130,000 (+160%)
THEN: Sorry NFL, ⚽️ club REAL MADRID set a record for annual revenue by a professional sports team in 2023-24 of $1.16B. Only 2 other organizations have crossed the $1B annual revenue mark at some point — the DALLAS COWBOYS in 2022-23, and BARCELONA FC in the late 2010s.
To note, some of MADRID’S revenue growth came from renovating its stadium to increase capacity and put in a retractable roof, a project which will be fully complete in FY24-25 (the NFL will play a game there in 2025).
20 teams of the 98 Big Five European soccer leagues generate half of their revenue, according to DELOITTE.
OH: OHIO STATE college football players made more than $20M in NIL money last season. Imagine if they got paid for actually playing!
That almost matches as much as their coaches made — a collective $22M (including $10M for head coach Ryan Day).
FINALLY: Quite a new scientific research facility football stadium entertainment complex that the UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE is proposing to build in Knoxville. But ya know, the players are really there for the education — the Hotel & Restaurant Management program certainly seems like it has potential.
IN THIS EDITION
The country’s #1 cable TV provider has some tough love for the cable TV subscriber picture, and the bundle revenue 💰 picuture for Hollywood studios — take a look at the latest insights at the end of Q2 earnings week 1.
A wide array of movie and TV deal news, including yes . . . A24 again, and much more.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE!
Wherein GenZ explains what’s afoot with Hollywood’s Boomer Donor class and the Harris campaign to a couple of Gen Xers and a Millennial.
Richard and I also try to deciper some baffling Deadpool takes out there from critics (it gets two big thumbs up from us), and we look at how that PEACOCK thing is going at COMCAST — and how the NBA plays into its financial future.
[Apple Podcast fans — we couldn’t embed the pod from there again due to “technical difficulties,” so here’s that link.]
WAKEUP POLL RESULTS
The bulls have come to the fore . . . so in the words of Wolverine, box office — LFG!
PLUS: Always nice when a friend tells her 238M friends to buy tickets to your movie, and includes a link.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
