☀️PAR C-Suite Gets Accelerated Shares Payout
'Carry-On' breaks more insane NETFLIX records / Holiday 🏈 TV audience comps / New job postings!
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, January 1, 2025.
Where I extend a hearty warm welcome to a fresh year to you all — congrats on officially surviving 'til '25. 🥳 So, uh, now whadda we do?
Although that hearty welcome is not extended to AMC THEATRES CEO Adam Aron, with whom I’m gonna have more material to talk about at CINEMACON this year than I thought!
I went to see The Fire Inside on Monday at a Jersey AMC THEATRES location, and my movie started 27 minutes after the 5:15 p.m. advertised time 🤬 . . . a 27-minute period where I was shown:
Six movie trailers
An “AMC Laser” screen technology trailer . . . twice in a row — yes, the exact same crappy spot back-to-back (movie theaters, you’re taking the wrong lessons from streaming service ad breaks.)
A COKE commercial
A “classic” Nicole Kidman AMC promo — who should really think about changing to CINEMARK, as that theater had a far more reasonable pre-movie approach when I went there for Nosferatu over the break
And I’m pretty sure there was a “silence your cell phones” promo in there too.
Basically — this is a f’in joke. I’m sure Aron totally loves to frequent restaurants where he gets seated 30 minutes late for each reservation he makes.
Studio distribution heads — it’s time for a sit-down with Mr. Aron in Vegas in 3 months. Some businesses dig their own graves, and AMC THEATRES’ handprint is currently all over the shovel — and I say this as a believer in the movie theater business. But your #1 theater chain needs an experience triage ASAP.
I’ll see if REGAL reaffirms my faith when I go to the Bob Dylan movie today, otherwise it’s CINEMARK or bust going forward for me (i.e. the only top 3 U.S. movie chain that’s both profitable and has never entered bankruptcy 👀).
AND: APPLE TV+ is doing an old fashioned HBO Free Preview Weekend! Anyone can stream APPLE Originals this weekend.
PLUS: Gotta love a good ol’ regional sports network standoff to end the year . . . much less that it’s between James Dolan’s MSG NETWORKS and ALTICE, the cable company that his dad founded and sold. This is still at the “tough talk” phase, so we’ll see if it reaches the blackout phase.
MSG NETWORKS haven’t been on NJ cable TV provider COMCAST for years (there is now an MSG+ D2C streaming option for fans).
THEN: Justin Baldoni and 9 other plaintiffs sued the NY Times for $250M.
KUDOS: To Will Ferrell for having some holiday fun at a recent L.A. KINGS game with “Buddy on a bender”:
IN THIS EDITION
Gotta love a Friday of Christmas week Hollywood studio SEC filing accelerating C-suite stock option grants.
The numbers that Carry-On has done for NETFLIX in just 3 weeks are bonkers — check out the new list of superlatives, with even more runway still to go.
How the college and NFL football game audiences stacked up this weekend:
Including the good ol’ NFL NETWORK games
How much interest there was for NFL games with NETFLIX’s international audience and more
FINALLY: Just a note of sincere thanks as we start a new year for the notes that many of you folks sent my way during 2024 — yes, including the ones to let me know I spelled a name wrong (which thankfully declined precipitously once Executive Editor David Lidsky joined The Ankler team).
I really enjoy the conversations and variety of folks in the business who reach out. Yes, even when taking a, uh, contrary view to something I’ve written.
As always — you can reach me here on LINKEDIN or good ol’ email here at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com
🎥 THE SILVER TV 📺
