☀️#PriceHikes Can’t Save AMC THEATRES Big Q3 Loss
Interpreting NETFLIX's new ad pitch / ALCON puts thorn in WB sequels / ESPN dumps ESPN BET
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, November 6, 2025.
Where ya gotta love the strategy move of the U.S. Transportation Secretary cutting 10% of U.S. flights at the top 40 airports for all Americans as the takeaway move from Election Day results, new polling this week and Trump himself saying that Americans are blaming your party for the shutdown.
Eh, I’m sure this won’t start to bump into any Thanksgiving travel plans this year! I mean, clearly logic is winning out all around.
THEN: ESPN BET, it’s been real — Mickey Mouse is folding his hand (do they make him take the gloves off at the table? 🤔) and ending ESPN’s foray into its own gambling service with PENN ENTERTAINMENT after just about 2 years — if only they’d taken the business strategy cue from BARSTOOL SPORTS!
DRAFTKINGS is the big winner, as its logos and odds will now be splashed all over your ESPN experience. The two had previously had a partnership before ESPN BET began in 2023 under a 10-year deal.
I’m sure DISNEY will update us on any resulting hits to revenue (the PENN deal was about $150M a year on average, plus some vesting PENN stock warrants — no word on what the DRAFT KINGS partnership is paying out to ESPN).
PENN’s payments to DISNEY will thus cease here in Q4 and end a foray that frankly most thought doomed from the get-go. This business established its 2 winners very quickly — everyone else is just competing for scraps.
BUT: Gotta love that DISNEY cradle to grave strategy, as it opens its new Storyliving by Disney residential community outside of Palm Springs, with houses starting at a cool $1.5M range. I mean, you didn’t think the DISNEY corporation would be offering $300k condos, did you?
Bonus — you’re only a 25-minute drive to Coachaella! So the kids can come visit every April. Well, at least in the mornings.
PLUS: AXIOS cut 19 folks on the product, tech and design teams.
YAH: October 2025 was the biggest October for job cuts since 2003 (circa the advent of the cell phone boom), according to a new analysis cited by Bloomberg, with tech and warehousing being the two largest sectors hit. Thanks, AI and robots! (andthe general condition of the economic outlook.)
FWIW: The “Buffett Indicator,” uh, indicates that the stock market is way bloated, bro. The stock market is +36% since the tariff-induced low in April. Eh, I’m sure an impending Supreme Court ruling on tariffs won’t have any effect on the market soon.
ALSO: Here’s your latest MCDONALD’S U.S. consumer health check-in for Q3:
“Traffic from lower-income consumers declining nearly double digits,” continuing a now 2-year trend.
“Traffic growth among higher-income consumers (grew) nearly double digits in the quarter.” And when “higher-income” folks are eating more at MCDONALD’S, well — I’ll let you make the leap on what that could say about the state of things.
Plus, it also has something in common with the movie business, as you’ll see down below today — MCDONALD’S U.S. same-store sales were +2.4%, due to folks paying more for their food, not more traffic in restaurants.
ON THE OTHER HAND: BLADE is now offering 12-minute helicopter flights from Westchester Airport to Manhattan for the low, low price of $125 each way. If you pay a $1,000-a-month “commuter pass” fee. So, be sure to pick up an Egg McMuffin on the drive from Scarsdale — and just in time for PARAMOUNT’s January RTO! See? Things are looking up.
AND: Add SIRIUSXM to the list of folks NETFLIX is talking to about a video podcast deal.
For anyone else intrigued by these moves — I laid out some thoughts as to what’s afoot at NETFLIX with the video pods in the bigger picture here on LINKEDIN earlier this week (i.e., the one social platform I consistently keep active on).
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Look at that — a new wide release tracking over $25M! Shh, don’t spook it.
Predators: Badlands reviews so far seem positive, and it’s PG-13 (just like INSTAGRAM for Teens!), so perhaps there’s some upside here. Plus, what else are YOUTUBE TV subscribers supposed to do on Saturdays now?
HOUSEKEEPING:
I’m diving into the WBD Q3 numbers as we speak after the earnings call this morning, and will be sending a special Lunch Hour edition of The Wakeup soon once I’ve had a chance to look further back at some 💰 comps . . . but yeah, that Q3 movie 💰 is great — but that -17% linear TV ad 💰 drop deserves a bit more of a historical comps look to show the dire state of that business.
#Cordcutting melt is getting brutal at WBD, even if Wall Street still seems to have deal frenzy blinders on.
📈 EARNINGS SEASON
