☀️My Thoughts on Oscars-YOUTUBE
AMC THEATRES stock 🚨 / NETFLIX spec 🔥 grows / APPLE gets more Godzilla
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 Thursday, December 18, 2025.
Where Rushfield’s gonna be so mad when he finds out he was left out of “$50M A Year Executive Tour Day” on the WB lot yesterday . . . 😬.
ALSO: Artificial Christmas tree prices are +10% to +15% this year thanks to #TrumpTariffs, according to the ACTA (American Christmas Tree Association). Maybe Trump meant “inflation stopped” right after he said those words in his national address last night? 🤔
It’s really too bad he didn’t deliver it in front of the newly added plaques under photos of U.S. Presidents on the Walk of Fame on the White House colonnade . . . where he totally 💩 all over many of them.
OH: CBS is airing a Rob Reiner: Scenes From a Life special on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. after 60 Minutes, featuring new interviews with a bunch of folks.
CBS also set Bert Kreischer and musician Hardy to co-host its NYE programming from Nashville this year.
AND: A shout out to The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan for pulling together a Rewatchables pod this week on one of the aforementioned favorite DVDs in my collection — Rob Reiner’s The Sure Thing. YOUTUBE, APPLE, SPOTIFY. Kids, watch this movie — it’s only 1h 35m long, and you’ll love it!
OH: CBS NEWS and THE FREE PRESS are going to do a series of town halls and debates in 2026 . . . with few details on where they’ll be shown, or if Bari Weiss will be handling the town halls — but here’s what we’re looking at programming-wise:
TOWN HALLS:
VP JD Vance
OPENAI CEO Sam Altman
Maryland Governor Wes Moore
DEBATES:
Gen Z and the American Dream: Isabel Brown and Harry Sisson.
God and Meaning: Ross Douthat and Steven Pinker.
The Sexual Revolution: Liz Plank and Allie Beth Stuckey
THEN: NETFLIX made its 2nd video podcast expansion this week, also adding 3 BARSTOOL pods exclusively in video (the audio will still be available everywhere): Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Show and Spittin Chiclets.
Launch date for this whole effort is still TBA early 2026.
SEPARATELY: FOX NEWS is also adding The Riley Gaines Show pod (rebranded from Gaines for Girls) from OUTKICK to its pod network.
PLUS: Just a shout-out to Donaghy Estates — Tina Fey and Robert Carlock are bringing back the official sparkling wine of 30 Rock in their new series, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, with Tracy Morgan.
YUP: Another day . . . another place to show off your prediction skills! Add COINBASE to the list of folks launching their own gambling services prediction market — actually, they make it very convenient to lose all of your money in one place, combining stock and crypto trading and prediction markets all in one app!
YA HUH: Nothing like the scrappy college football industrial complex. But ya know, it’s really all about getting a degree (note this was from 2 years ago).
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Ok, it’s Avatar time . . . the last one opened to $134M in 2022, but it doesn’t quite seem like the same hype is here on this one to start (a 3-year time difference vs. 13 years will undoubtedly do that, plus there is a significant Christmas break ahead).
Thinking here is around $90M, but closer to $100M or more if you’re a bit more bullish.
FINALLY: A STOCK REPORT
Hi to our freebie Ankler readers 👋 — as our paid subscribers know, every day down below I do a stock market recap of the big movers in entertainment & media stocks from the previous day’s action . . . but I’m just moving it up here today as there are a few things to note from yesterday that are important to highlight:
ORACLE -5% ($178.46) This was due to a report that an AI data center backer walked away from a new deal for an ORACLE project in MI, citing concerns about possible delays, and the lease and debt terms.
This stock is now -40% this fall / the past 3 months — essentially since PSKY sent its first WBD takeover bid in — and is -18% in the last month alone. YTD it’s still +7.5%.
AMC THEATERS -6% ($1.82) This stock, at a company that still has a very serious debt problem, is really starting to 🚨. It’s -36% in the past 3 months, and now essentially at its lowest price ever.
Comps in the sector:
CINEMARK is -16% in the past 3 months.
Not quite as hard hit as AMC, but the prospect of losing a movie studio is already causing 😳 around the financial fortunes of movie theater companies.
#2 chain REGAL is no longer publicly listed after its bankruptcy process.
IMAX is +16% in the past 3 months
Its eventized programming nature is seen as insulated from consolidation — remember, NETFLIX itself is doing an IMAX pic with Narnia.
BUZZFEED -7% ($0.91) This stock is once again below $1, despite already undergoing a reverse split last year to try and raise its price above a dollar so it wouldn’t be de-listed (stocks that stay below $1 a share for an extended period of time significantly run that risk).
FINAL MAP: A 2028 electricity bill preview from the folks at Axios.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
YOUTUBE gets The Oscars
Obviously, you’ve heard this news by now — but a few things here to note on this, and some essential questions ahead. Plus, the next linear TV coup for #bigtech that will soon be on the table.