☀️Now What: WBD 👍 PSKY Deal, HULU's Huge Reality Push
PAR revives 'Cop Land' / AMAZON's $30M rom-com / UNI sets retro 'Miami Vice' / HBO buys Emmy season pic
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, April 23, 2026.
Where good news! NETFLIX is using all of that net profit — $5.3B in Q1 alone #ThxPSKY, and about $11B in 2025 — to lower your prices buy back more shares!
Yes, in lieu of a notable new business / potential deal narrative to interest Wall Street, which now has its ravenous appetite fully whetted after the NETFLIX BROS. deal prospect . . . it’s time to dip into the classic “share buyback well” to try and juice the stock, as NETFLIX has now authorized up to $25B of stock buybacks.
Eh, it was either that or issue a dividend #freemoney for the first time, and clearly NETFLIX wants to still keep that arrow in its quiver for future use.
Buying back more of one’s stock is also a belief that your stock is currently undervalued (it’s at $93 a share, still below where it was pre NETFLIX BROS. saga) and, if it eventually goes up, benefits a company’s financial profile in the long term.
Either way — between talk of stock buybacks and potentially buying a Hollywood studio lot, NETFLIX is definitely becoming its Hollywood studio parents in increasing regards . . . and getting even further away from the old ‘NETFLIX is a tech company’ vibes from once upon a time.
Alas, NETFLIX’s stock is . . . basically flat so far this morning on the news.
AND: It’s WARNAMOUNT deal vote day. Vote early, vote often. Oh wait — it’s already approved by shareholders. So . . . over to you, state AGs and EU! WBD reiterated the planned closing timeline by the end of Q3.
HOWEVER: Zaz’s payday was rejected by shareholders . . . although those kinds of votes are largely ceremonial / non-binding, so I wouldn’t expect much to change.
OH: Trump’s FBI is now investigating NY Times journalists who write stories about Kash Patel. Midterms are less than 6 months away, America — your turn.
THEN: Here are your latest recipients of CA film tax credits, $193M in total across 38 projects including next Simpsons pic, the 13 Going on 30 reboot and a Will Ferrell comedy.
WELL: At least it’s safe to breathe the air in L.A. . . . the majority of the days in the year? 🤷♂️
THEN: MCCLATCHY is laying off about half of the staff at US Weekly, according to Status, including the entire social media team . . . which raises the question: What’s left? The remaining staff will be going fully remote.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Yes, the big thriller day has arrived . . . where we find out if life will be bad or off the wall this weekend at LGF, and we finally see if America can’t stop ’til it gets enough of Michael.
I really can’t remember the time that there was this much riding on a musical biopic that really wants to be starting somethin’ . . . but perhaps that’s just human nature. And yes, I’ll now see myself out and just beat it.
Looks like we’re going with $65M/$70M range on the Michael expectations, but others see more of a surge coming with walk-up ticket buying — so what is the way it’s making you feel? (You knew I had one more in me — ok, 2 👇).
THANKS! To the folks at NETFLIX for the invite to check out the Apex NYC premiere last night, and for the subsequent nightmares about crossbow arrows being shot at me from out of nowhere. Well done.👌
Wakeup Housekeeping Note — COMCAST
I’ll be back with a special Wakeup lunch edition breaking down all of the COMCAST / NBCU earnings report intel to know.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
