☀️ DISNEY’s ‘McCay’ MIA, ‘Freddy’s’ Big Dip
LGF gets its Dennis Rodman / SEARCHLIGHT re-teams with Waititi / CBS, Weiss lack big advertiser 💰
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, December 14, 2025.
Where the NY GIANTS are mirroring Hollywood trends by being quite efficient!
They’ve already essentially locked up the basement position in the NFC East by losing to the COMMANDERS today at home to go 2-12, and there are still 3 games left to play in the season!
Now, the really hard work begins to battle their stadium mates, the 3-11 NY JETS, for the prestigious NYC bottom dweller bragging rights in this town. 🤞
THEN: GOOGLE complied with DISNEY’s cease & desist request to remove AI-generated videos on YOUTUBE featuring DISNEY IP.
AH: Big advertisers were seemingly avoiding the Erika Kirk / Bari Weiss town hall last night on CBS, according to Variety — the ad breaks for the special with many faith-based sponsors (prayer apps, ANGEL’s David pic, etc.) had a very ‘cable news’ vibe with a lot of D2C advertisers (HomeServe.com, etc.) among a smattering of bigge names (seemingly in tech) like TIKTOK and SPOTIFY.
HUH: NYC air pollution levels in Manhattan’s congestion pricing zone are -22% vs. before the policy was enacted, according to a new study. Crashes, delays, and noise complaints are all also down according to city data. Somehow, the city is also still functioning.
OH: AMAZON PV pulled the AI-generated season recaps of its original series because . . . basically, it sure seems like AMAZON did not have a human who knew the programming watch them to make sure there were no errors (hint: the AI confused some things). Well done!
PLUS: Amy Schumer and husband Chris Fischer are divorcing after 7 years of marriage.
ALSO: HBO MAX is adding a FAST-like themed Channels feature for some users (not me, apparently) where shows like Friends, SATC and Sopranos, and Harry Potter and LOTR movies will be playing on a loop . . . though I’m certainly curious to see how all of this works, and is presented in the app.
AND: Nothing quite like hitting your lowest approval level on the economy yet over 2 presidential terms before health insurance costs likely skyrocket next month for tens of millions of Americans. So weird — I keep hearing everything’s going great!
About 50% of the 1,100 survey participants also said they are cutting back on nonessential purchases more than they usually would.
BUT: At least the Trump economy has a sexy name for 2026 — welcome to the “appetizer economy.” Apparently, orders of appetizers from food chain suppliers are +20% YoY, according to CNBC.
It actually seems to be a two-fold cause — some ‘trading down’ by consumers, and restaurants ordering more apps as part of teaser offers/discounting to try and get more people to come out to eat.
FINALLY: Your latest in WBD tea leaves — add this to the ORACLE 💰 🚨 out there at the end of last week in the periphery, which I took a look at myself on Thursday.
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
