☀️ CinemaCon Predictions: Studio-by-Studio
'Melania' streaming debut results / CBS makes fall comedy pilot decision / SONY nabs 'Final Destination' duo
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 Friday, April 10, 2026.
Where I wish a happy Masters weekend to all. Especially, of course, to those folks who spent tens of thousands of 💰 to fly the PJ 🛩️ to Georgia to watch golf.
But ya gotta love a tournament that draws 4,000+ PJs 🛩️ to a small Georgia town, then charges those folks just $6 for a beer. Although — even The Masters doesn’t seem to be immune from possible tariff inflation!
The price of a “Masters Gnome” went up $10 this year! One of these little guys will set you back a whole $60 — if you’re able to get your hands on one of course (they sell out early).
YEAH: If you needed another reason not to be in NYC July 4th weekend — according to Page Six, Taylor & Travis have set July 3 in NYC as their wedding plan choice (location TBA), which I’m sure will make the tourist situation even more enjoyable than usual.
Add that on top of the World Cup madness, where NJ commuters won’t be able to get on NJ TRANSIT trains in Penn Station starting up to 4 hours before matches on game days.
OH: L.A. folks — you’re gonna have to pay to go to your FIFA World Cup Fan Fest event this summer during the tournament too, as the city joins NYC in charging tickets to the festivities.
The events have typically been free hangs in other editions around the world that fans look forward to going to, so they can hang with other fans and meet folks from different parts of the world etc. — but as FIFA is providing little to no 💰 assistance to cities for things like security . . . yeah, welcome to America. Is it now possible to be less than excited about this event this summer due to FIFA’s ineptitude and blatant greed?
ALSO: As expected, Trump’s Iran war pushed inflation over 3% in March to 3.3%.
SPEAKING OF: YOUTUBE is going Hollywood, and joining the #pricehike train — YT Premium will now be $16 a month, and the Lite version will be $9 a month. YT Music Premium is also now $12 a month (SPOTIFY is up to $13 a month). The changes will hit the June billing cycle.
PLUS: Welcome to the NFL, NFL — the DOJ is now investigating the league over antitrust concerns around its media deals, as the league is conveniently in the midst of talks with CBS about a new deal, and with FOX thought to be on deck — 2 networks at parent companies with strong ties to the Trump administration.
The NFL, of course, is the only sport that makes a point of putting every team’s games on free local TV in their respective home markets.
YES: OPENAI has lowered the minimum ad spend to participate in its burgeoning advertising business from about $200k/$250k to $50k, as it launches its own ads manager interface for pilot program participants, per Digiday. However, it’s still sticking with its high CPMs detailed in the piece.
AND: Pink will be your Tony Awards host this year.
GOOD NEWS: COMCAST is remaking the cable TV bundle in streaming! Those crafty Philly fellas. COMCAST broadband and TV bundle subs can now add on a bunch of streamer bundles — all ad-tier only (although APPLE TV has no ads).
The biggest one is $35 a month: NETFLIX, PEACOCK, APPLE TV, DIS+, HULU, HBO MAX — which is a 39% discount, not bad!
There are other, smaller, various streamer combos listed here for lower prices.
NOTE: AMAZON PV and PAR+ are not in any of them, so throw on another $18 to any plan to get all the biggies . . . which makes it $53, or essentially what we all used to pay for cable TV about 20 years ago.
Again, these packages are only available to COMCAST broadband and cable TV bundle subs.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Gonna join the mild optimists on UNI’s You, Me & Tuscany this weekend.
NEW POD
THANKS!: To the folks at FOCUS for the invite to check out the new Lorne doc at the NYC premiere last night. It’s a fun watch that also gives at least some insight into a subject who’ll always be an enigma — even if, like me, you saw all the PEACOCK SNL50 docs last year, too (this is also, thankfully, not primarily a clip-heavy retrospective of the show).
I recommend checking it out next month, and yes, Lorne himself was down there in the audience somewhere (along with David Letterman and Anna Wintour, uh, separately, and SNL mainstays like Robert Smigel and Jim Downey), as were many of the current SNL cast who had yet to see the doc either.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
CINEMACON Predictions: What to Expect in Vegas Next Week
The movie business’ biggest annual gathering starts on Monday! If you see a 6’4 bald guy who looks like he writes a daily newsletter column doing a lot of stretching in the corridors and cocktail parties after the 2.5-hour panels — be sure to say hi!
So, let’s take a look at the theatrical movie business themes we’ll likely see and hear most at CINEMACON in Las Vegas next week from our Hollywood studios and CINEMA UNITED execs in their pitches to America’s movie theater owners.
Plus, a studio-by-studio wish list of trailer looks (and talent on stage) that I hope we get to see from the various presentations . . . as Hollywood looks to hype up their esteemed longtime business partners for the year ahead.