☀️ OPENAI Fires Next Salvo At Hollywood
A24, BLACKBEAR set new pics / China's huge TIKTOK 💰 cut / Co-CEOs have a moment
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 Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
Where OPENAI can’t be too far away from a Super Bowl ad this year, as it’s already buying CHATGPT ads on Monday Night Football as part of OPENAI’s new ad push, which . . . look, I know this is a Gen X take here, but:
This is all stuff you can easily GOOGLE to get info/ideas for, too.
The spots do not show people how you use CHATGPT, nor do they feature anyone seemingly remotely near even 30 years old — remember the NFL TV audience median age is about 55 years old. #KnowYourAudience
SO: Has anyone seen any box office info from the Dude Perfect: The Hero Tour movie that was released in about 1050 theaters this weekend? I’m still looking into getting some results, but if you have any intel on/off the record/background, email me — seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com.
WELL: Now that pretty much all of TKO’s TV/streaming deals are taken care of ☑️, obviously the next frontier for Ari is . . . podcast host. Meet the Rushmore pod, which Ari will co-host with music management exec Ben Perske where they’ll debate who is the GOAT in specific categories (i.e., who’s on Mount Rushmore) with various guests from those fields. Can’t wait for the Hollywood Agent episode!
As for where to find it? You’ll have to go to X — yes, Elon somehow locked up the exclusive 🤯 (and yes, he’ll also be on an episode), because as any good podcast agent will tell you . . . X is where most people go to listen to podcast episodes.
10-episode first season with guests including Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Bobby Kotick, Shaq, Reggie Miller, Rick Rubin, Jimmy Iovine, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham and Jeff Koons.
Pat McAfee’s company is handling production.
THEN: John Cena’s last WWE match will be as a Saturday Night Main Event . . . uh, event on December 13 in D.C. No NBC on this one — it’s a PEACOCK streaming exclusive.
HUH: A big loss for women’s college hoops this season, as USC’s Juju Watkins announced she’ll be skipping the entire season to rehab the ACL tear she suffered in March, and presumably come back stronger to play a full senior year in 2026.
OH: If you’re doing a home reno project — put your wood order in now. Trump is putting a new tariff on lumber starting on Oct. 14. I’m sure that’ll also do wonders for new homebuilding business trends.
ALSO: Who says late-night TV is dunzo? T-Swift is now visiting both Fallon and Seth on NBC the week after her album’s release (Oct. 6 and 8, respectively).
So — we’ll see if she pops into SNL this weekend to break the internet with Bad Bunny first. Matthew Frank — can we set up a KALSHI market on this?
OH: Add “Posting gen AI videos of fake FOX NEWS reports on magical ‘med beds’” to the list of things the President of The United States is now messaging to the world (and then deleting 12 hours later). The fake / gen AI clip featured an AI Trump promoting free “med bed cards” for all Americans.
AND: Look for the YOUTUBE logo on the middle of the new White House ballroom floor (I hear it can also double as an indoor basketball court), with YOUTUBE being the latest to pay the Trump piper to the tune of $24.5M to settle a lawsuit around suspending his YT account after his supporters attacked and severely beat Capitol Police while making threats of murdering the vice president, spurred on by Trump’s political rally in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
$22M goes to a trust for the National Mall, which is overseeing construction of the $200M ballroom, and $2.5M is for the other plaintiffs in that lawsuit.
That puts the Trump media lawsuit payments at about $90M, between settlements for this and previous matters with CBS, ABC, META and X.
YAH: This divorce of TIKTOK from Chinese ownership sounds a lot more like we’re just moving into two apartments next to each other — China’s BYTEDANCE will still run commercial functions like advertising and e-comm on “New TIKTOK” via its current TIKTOK U.S. affiliate, according to Reuters.
The new ORACLE consortium will run the app’s data, content and algorithm aspects . . . and Bloomberg reports that about 50%+ of the U.S. profits will still go to BYTEDANCE, according to Bloomberg. Wow, what a deal! How did the Trump administration persuade Beijing to get on board!? 😱
So, start figuring that into your grand WARNAMOUNT / TIKTOK conglomerate hot takes when the ad & product sales money isn’t involved (i.e. the backbone of TIKTOK’s business), nor half the profits.
No wonder it was only valued at $14B vs. the 2x to 3x that many industry analysts were targeting.
Again, still more details to come as to how this will all net out on the books. 💰
THANKS!
To DISNEYFOX for the invite to check out the NYFF premiere of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere on Sunday evening, and for well-repping my home area up on the big screen.
AND: To NETFLIX for then showing me A House of Dynamite at 9:15 p.m. and giving me nightmares when I got home. Very effective filmmaking!
📺 THE SILVER TV 🎥
