☀️ NETFLIX Studio 🎥 Spends Paying Off
DISNEY adds to spec 🔥 / APPLE buys next pic in bidding war / PAR sets ‘Scream 8’ in motion
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, April 1, 2026.
Where I gotta say, living in the Trump 2.0 era kinda negates the power of April Fools’ Day.
Which I’m not mad at — but let’s see who tries to waste your time today with a “clever” stunt that’s never been done before! And watch that sweet ROI roll in . . . 🤑.
YAH: Trump chose April Fools’ Day to deliver a national address tonight at 9 p.m., which I’m sure will impart a cogent message to Americans about the rock-solid plan ahead in Iran. So, be sure to get those KALSHI bets in early, D.C. insiders!
Note for Survivor fans — CBS is cutting the show in half and will resume pt. 2 at 9:20 p.m.
YUP: TEGNA told the CA judge who issued the temporary restraining order against its NEXSTAR deal that certain aspects of the integration “cannot be reversed,” saying it would be “difficult to freeze integration” that already took place in the whopping . . . whole 5 business days that took place between the deal’s FCC/DOJ swift approval and the court’s issuing of the order. 😂
In TEGNA’s defense, do you know how hard it is to cancel stationary orders? Those folks are ruthless.
ALSO: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a note to FCC honcho Brendan Carr stating “serious concerns” about his personal rubber stamping of the NEXSTAR-TEGNA deal, and asking why a deal of this scale and precedence did not get a vote by the full FCC.
WELL: Lest you think Hollywood is the only industry that vastly overpays its C-suite execs — Advertising would like to have a word. Enjoy your $70M compensation package for a year’s work in 2025, OMNICOM CEO John Wren!
I mean, he does have a 2028 retirement to plan for. Hopefully, the additional . . . $170M he’s scheduled to make from 2026 through 2028 will help with the costs of the Medicare supplement plan.
PLUS: TUBI is adding 250 episodes from the Sesame Street library to its lineup, with 10% of the episodes refreshed each quarter.
AND: YOUTUBE’s Upfront will be Wednesday, May 13, at Lincoln Center, with Trevor Noah hosting the festivities and Chappell Roan performing, plus appearances by Alex Cooper, the SAVANNAH BANANAS and Dude Perfect among others.
WBD also has a presentation scheduled for that day . . . but we’ll see how that shakes out with the WARNAMOUNT deal proceedings.
THEN: HBO MAX is doing screenings of The Pitt season 2 finale at select ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE locations on Monday, April 13, for active or retired healthcare workers — tickets avail here (a $10 food & bev voucher, so the theaters get a benefit for holding the event).
OH: If you have a TV bundle through SPECTRUM — its streaming app is now available on AMAZON FIRE TV devices.
NOW: Who had goalie fighting becoming the hot trend in the NHL this season?
YUP: OPENAI raised another $122B from investors at a $830B valuation (it was looking to raise about $100B but, ya know how things go), including good ’ol NVIDIA, SOFTBANK and AMAZON (although it’s only a hard commit of $15B, with another $35B depending upon meeting certain targets).
OPENAI has 50M paying subs globally, or what NETFLIX had in Q2 2014.
NETFLIX was making about $530M a month from that sub count (adjusted for inflation). OPENAI is now making about $2B a month from its subs, or 4x the NETFLIX amount.
BTW: According to documents viewed by BI, OPENAI is now hiring contractors in fields like animal husbandry, agriculture, music composition and commercial flying to tell CHATGPT everything they’ve learned in several years of building a career . . . so that an AI chatbot can put many of their co-workers out of a job in a couple of years. #sellingout
But at least they’re getting paid . . . at least $50 an hour to do so.
BUT: At least the long-rumored, AI-induced layoffs at Larry Ellison’s ORACLE have begun — no specific numbers as of yet, other than in the “thousands” according to CNBC.
ORACLE is giving 4 weeks’ salary as severance, plus 1 additional week for each year worked at the company (up to 26 weeks).
RECENT COMPS:
BLOCK gave folks 20 weeks of salary in its recent layoffs this year.
META gave 16 weeks in its layoffs last year.
Each also gave additional weeks depending on the length of employment, per BI.
FINALLY: NATPE and REALSCREEN TV biz events are no longer, as their Canadian parent company, BRUNICO, is pulling the plug after reviving NATPE in 2023. The company’s BANFF WORLD MEDIA FESTIVAL will continue this summer, but the World Screen publication will also shut down.
Weekly NETFLIX Film Chart Insights
SONY’s Anaconda opens very strong, as NETFLIX Pay1 deals show viewing dividends, volume
A great showing for Anaconda’s debut on the service last week, which hit NETFLIX 3 months after its theatrical release. 👀
Here’s a look at the debut with some key NETFLIX comps . . . and a look at what NETFLIX’s burgeoning Pay1 business is doing for its volume this year so far — essentially taking a page from the old HBO playbook, and adding it onto its already potent NETFLIX Films playbook.
Plus take a look at the significant role studio libraries play at the top of the NETFLIX films charts, just they have for cable TV networks for decades, and updates on Peaky Blinders, War Machine, the BTS doc and more.