☀️ Layoffs Hit WME; A24 Sets Van Damme Remake
Ritchson Tops Matt & Ben at NETFLIX / SONY sets MACRO film deal / LGF adds to spec 🔥
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 Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
Where I hope you’re not all hungover from the big day yesterday — it was no mistake that St. Patrick’s Day and Bob Iger’s last day at DISNEY coincided.
I heard the Deadpool ice sculpture shot luge in Alan Bergman’s office was a popular stop on the farewell office pub crawl (you don’t wanna know how it was designed — let’s just say the popcorn bucket team handled it 🫣).
So, alas, fare thee well . . . Bob Iger! If there’s good wifi on the yacht — let me know what the dock slip number is so I know where to come hang for March Madness.
WELL: So much for Oscars audience momentum — the show came in at 17.9M viewers on ABC and HULU, the lowest since 2022 and -9% from last year. No word on the ABC/HULU audience split,
Keep in mind this result includes any benefit from the new NIELSEN BIG DATA + PANEL methodology that has generally been giving small bumps YoY to audience sizes due to increased audience sampling, including full out-of-home viewership counting — key on events like big awards shows.
The Grammys were also -6% this year to 14.4M on CBS, and the Globes were -7% to 8.7M (also with BIG DATA + PANEL results), rounding out a down awards season.
The Oscars going up against the big WBC U.S. vs. D.R. baseball game and its 7.4M viewers on FS1 probably didn’t help (although that fandbase Venn diagram is probably pretty small) . . . and you can add holding the show in the middle of March as ya like.
Kudos to the 27% bears on the win; my 25% optimists were way too optimistic.
SO: WBD’s new Burbank soundstage lot called The Ranch, located about a mile away from the main WB lot, is now fully open — adding 16 soundstages and bumping the WBD SoCal total to 50 stages.
WBD reported that its stages were at 91% capacity in 2025, well above the average for the 17 studios in the region that comprise the majority of stage capacity in the L.A. area, which were at 62% for H1 2025 according to a new FILMLA report.
AH: The WNBA and its players’ union have come to a tentative verbal agreement for a new deal and have avoided a potential strike; no deal details are just yet. The season begins in about 5 weeks.
RELATED: The average women’s college hoops TV audience on ESPN was +19% this season to 333k (20 games had 500k+ viewers), and games on FS1 were +22% to 148k (these both exceed any kind of NIELSEN BIG DATA + PANEL bump).
KUDOS: To VENEZUELA for taking the 2026 WBC title last night on FOX, answering a late surge from Team USA. Enjoy your $100k-per-player payouts!
HUH: FIFA cut yet another deal for this year’s men’s World Cup ⚽️, allowing broadcasters to show the first 10 minutes of matches for free on YOUTUBE.
YAH: When you see a lotta DIET COKE and SMARTWATER products in The Devil Wears Prada 2 — know they were definitely paid for by COKE.
YUP: Arizona has filed criminal charges against KALSHI for running “an illegal gambling business in Arizona without a license,” and “for election wagering.” Let the fun begin.
OH: Add ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA and MERRIAM-WEBSTER to the list of folks suing OPENAI, alleging it (looks up term) ripped off its shit in building CHATGPT.
AND: NETFLIX will put the first 2 episodes of its upcoming animated series Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 in 34 AMC THEATRES locations at 12 noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 — list of theaters here.
HMM: SIX FLAGS’ activist investor JANA PARTNERS is pushing for a sale (and a new board leader), in case PSKY has any theme park ambitions — Abu Dhabi certainly seems to love the business . . . 🤔.
YEAH: Gonna be an interesting year in the American West after a winter with limited snowfall and temps like this, encapsulated by Axios.
FINALLY: I love diving into the 60 Minutes archive — if you want any reassurance about the nature of today’s social platform “impulse buying” not being something entirely new in American society . . . I highly recommend watching this profile on the BLOOMINGDALE’S boom of the 1970s.
Plus, it’s just a lotta fun to see New Yorkers in 1976 (admittedly with a UES skew).
IN TODAY’S EDITION
WME makes its first real staff trim since Covid.
The A24
remakereaimagining I . . . definitely did not see coming!Alan Ritchson’s War Machine numbers and the NETFLIX talent company he’s now in are kinda 🤯 — this is a massive hit.
Also take a look at what’s ahead for Alan, including a WME-repped movie whose interest level / market value has to have gone up a notch.
Plus some job trims at AXIOS, growth at Wired, change at MS NOW, stagnation at CBS Evening News and more in the media biz.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
