☀️Indie Film Wellness Check 🩺: A '25 Box Office Analysis
NETFLIX gets more WWE / Kimmel trims music guests / ESPN sees CFP audience bump
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 Tuesday, January 6, 2026.
Where since I’ve yet to see newsletters this morning note that it’s the 5th anniversary of the travesty and tragedy of Jan. 6, 2021 in this country, I’ll lead off here today with that. Hope everyone is enjoying their Trump pardons.
AND: Here is the hole that Tony Dokoupil needs to climb out of — your Q4 broadcast evening news average audiences in NIELSEN BIG DATA + PANEL numbers:
ABC: 7.86M (973k in 25-54s)
NBC: 6.22M (848k in 25-54s)
CBS: 4M (502k in 25-54s)
I’m sure segments on stories that are 1 to 2 months old on people making nude calendars should do the job. But, at least by that timing basis, we should see that 60 Minutes piece on CECOT/conditions that deported immigrants are living in by late February.
HO HO: Christmas Day #funfact 🎅 — the 10 a.m. broadcast of A Christmas Story on TBS was the most-watched holiday movie on cable TV, with 1.27M viewers according to NIELSEN.
The 12 noon broadcast was #2 at 1.19M.
YUP: LIONSGATE has already greenlit a Housemaid sequel, with plans to shoot later this year and Sydney Sweeney and Paul Feig expected to return.
THEN: Sports had 96 of the Top 100 biggest TV audiences in 2025.
84 NFL games
8 College Football games
2 MLB World Series games
Men’s College Hoops championship
Kentucky Derby
No NBA games made the list
OH: The other 4 broadcasts:
Trump Inauguration
Trump March Congressional address (SOTU)
NBC Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
ABC The Oscars
ALSO: The California Post will launch on Jan. 26.
OH: AMAZON will return to the Beacon Theater for its Upfront on Monday, May 11. No word on the DJ just yet.
WBD #STUBWATCH: Welcome to Wall Street, cable TV networks — VERSANT was -13% ($40.57) on its first day of trading, and another -2% so far this morning. I’m gonna guess PSKY is standing by with its calculators to note how it reflects on DISCO GLOBAL valuation.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
INDEPENDENT FILM AT THE 2025 BOX OFFICE
So, here’s what we got for 2025 outside of the major studio pictures — alongside the important 💰 comps to 2024, and 2 of the years before Covid — which show the health of the indie box office sector across different 💰 tiers.