☀️NETFLIX Goes IMAX, Sets 'Narnia' + NFL Christmas '26
LA production volatility by category / NETFLIX gets next 'Fast X' helmer pic / 'Red One' vs. 'Carry-On' wk 2
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like or email me seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, January 17, 2025.
Where if congestion pricing is putting a downer on your NYC driving commute from the burbs 😩, how about a daily $95 helicopter ride to work ($190 round trip)?
Just get to JFK or EWR airports and BLADE will fly you to the east or west side of Manhattan respectively in 5 minutes. Yes, that story was in Bloomberg — why do you ask?
AND: The Jan. 30 FireAid benefit concert at the INTUIT DOME and KIA FORUM has lined up a great list of folks so far:
Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Jelly Roll, Green Day, Gracie Abrams, Gwen Stefani, Joni Mitchell, Katy Perry, Earth, Wind & Fire, Lil Baby, P!nk, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rod Stewart, Sting, Stephen Stills, Stevie Nicks and Tate McRae . . . plus a Dave Matthews and John Mayer combo, who have never played a gig together before!
Tix go on sale Wed., Jan. 22, but it’ll also livestream on MAX, NETFLIX, YOUTUBE, AMAZON, PAR+ and . . . well, pretty much everywhere.
AND: SPOTIFY also canceled its Grammys week event plans, alongside the major labels.
THEN: Here are your PGA Award nominations.
And your ASC Award nominations
OH: IAC’s DOTDASH MEREDITH is laying off 143 folks (it employs about 3,700) to position the company to invest in growth areas according to Axios, after laying off another 53 back in November.
AH: Don’t worry advertisers — META isn’t going to let the “community” make notes to “fact check” any ad/post you pay META 🤑 to make, unlike uh . . . your posts. Zuck is leaving that “Community Notes” feature on ads to Elon on X, which advertisers, I’m sure, are totally cool with.
But #shocker — if you’re not giving 💵 to Zuck for your influencer/sponsored post, or unpaid post on your brand page . . . the post is fair game for notes, just like your pilot script at ABC.
Although personally I’m still having trouble deciding if I should delete my FB account on Sunday or Monday?
Eh, since Biden is gonna take a pass on enforcing the TIKTOK ban law on Sunday and leave it to Trump, let’s go with Monday.
BTW: Senate Republicans blocked that bill looking to extend the TIKTOK ban by 270 days.
AND: The Supreme Court has upheld the law. Next week should be fun.
WELL: That’s a choice.
PLUS: Nothing like raising your $250M lawsuit against the NYT with a $400M lawsuit against your former co-star, her husband and her publicist.
OOPS: UNITED HEALTHCARE’s stock was -6% yesterday on its Q4 earnings report — turns out it had to pay out more for user claims than it anticipated. Man, aren’t sick people the worst? 🙄
ACTUALLY: MICROSOFT is indeed following GOOGLE’s AI lead in copying the cable TV bundle tactic of adding its AI Copilot features to Office365 software subscriptions . . . and hiking the price 30%. Gotta pay for those data centers somehow, folks.
ALSO: #2 U.S. movie theater chain REGAL set a deal to install 4,000 laser projectors in its theaters over the next 5 years.
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to:
Legendary director David Lynch, who died at the age of 78. It was announced last year that he was battling emphysema.
Legendary sports personality, Tonight Show guest and of course ’80s sitcom star Bob Uecker, who died at the age of 90.
Legendary actor of stage and screen Joan Plowright died at the age of 95.
WAKEUP POLL
Well, here’s where the Wakeup poll came in yesterday around my L.A. location production days breakdown in terms of 2025.
Today, I dive further into the FilmLA archives to show just what sectors have changed the most over the past 5 to 7 years, and the timing of various booms and busts in different categories to set the stage for what 2025 will be facing comp wise.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
