☀️ Labor Day Dud Wknd Puts Summer ’25 Behind ’24
Movie release slate shifts, additions / AMAZON gets McCartney pic / NFL makes 2nd U.K. TV deal
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, August 31, 2025.
Where I think the TEXAS vs. OHIO STATE pre-game on ESPN might have been more exciting than the game itself (especially given all of the hype).
But it definitely was for OSU sophomore Logan Pallo, who won $250k for kicking a 33-yard field goal on College GameDay after McAfee added $150k onto the prize just moments before his attempt (with an assist from Chad Powers himself).
PLUS: META allows folks to create celebrity AI chatbots for public use (including child celebs) and . . . yeah, according to Reuters, folks are making it sexual #OMG😱 and having them create risque images and engage in conversations that generally “make it weird” to put it mildly — despite that not being within META’s official user guidelines. What are the odds.
AND: META is putting Hollywood’s re-org and renaming chaos to shame . . . having now enacted 4 re-orgs of its AI efforts in 6 months.
Also, not too much of a surprise that a couple of folks Zuck and the team made sizable 💰 offers to decided to either leave within a couple of weeks or just never show up after the onboarding process.
Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of CHATGPT, had also threatened to
quit and go back to OPENAI before being given a title of “chief AI
scientist,” according to the FT.
THEN: Get the Telluride scoop and thoughts on the biggest pics from the ground this weekend in Colorado from The Ankler’s Christopher Rosen, who’ll be joining Katey Rich in a Prestige Junkie After Party chat tomorrow (sign up/subscribe at that link to get the livechat alert) — plus I’m sure a preview of everything The Ankler has in store for TIFF and what they hope to be seeing there too.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Kudos to the 25% (with IMAX assist) this weekend! My fellow 52%’ers got caught and hung out to dry.
The August “Nice Cut!” Award
Each day, I round up the latest TV and movie trailer drops (my old HBO marketing roots never go away), so I thought I’d start shining a light on the ones that really stood out for me in a given month.
A few very good candidates in August, but here’s what won over my vote:
TV SERIES: FX’s The Lowdown already has one of my favorite things going for it — Ethan Hawke going a little off the rails — but still a really nice job balancing a lot of elements, plus some prestige.
MOVIE TEASER: A24’s Marty Supreme teaser preview was just pretty great.
MOVIE TRAILER: NETFLIX’s Ballad of a Small Player also has me on board 100%.
SEAN’S A SUCKER MENTION: Yeah . . . SPC, ya got me on The Choral. Hopefully the movie rides the historical mawkish line properly 🤞 — but this feels like just a nice human spirit movie to add into my Christmas/New Year’s break viewing.
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
