☀️ PSKY's Mystery WBD Bid; Shell Threatened with Lawsuit
AMC THEATRES hits new low on Q4 report / HULU revives ‘X-Files’ / Hanks as Lincoln
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, February 24, 2026.
Where ya gotta love OPENAI CEO Sam Altman finally speaking the truth about those AI data centers driving up your energy bills — humans, you’re no peach either!
“It also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.”
So yeah, what good are ya if after all of that effort we put into you . . . you’re still not smart enough to answer my question about how to make chicken piccata to impress my date — so I can fool her into thinking I actually know how to cook?
Great argument, Sam. Ok, fine, yes — the piccata part was 100% the product of all the wasted energy it took to get my brain to where it is today.
AH: Et tu, Vogue? Gotta love Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Bezos being named honorary chairs for the Met Gala this year . . . after also being the primary 💰 sponsor for the event. And he didn’t even have to fund the Devil Wears Prada 2 sequel! (which hits theaters 3 days before the event.)
YEAH: Gotta love the fight game 🥊 mirroring the movie business . . . in that it’s also still largely relying on names from 10 to 20 years ago. Enjoy the new Mayweather (48 years old) vs. Pacquiao (47 years old) fight on NETFLIX, coming to you on Saturday, Sept 19.
But at least the venue they’ll be fighting at is new — enjoy the first fight night at The Sphere! (Well, first boxing match — the UFC already held a fight there that was so expensive to stage that it didn’t sound like the UFC was too keen to do it again.)
ALSO: Here ya go.
MEANWHILE: By next year, the Saudis will have sunk over $6B into trying to make LIV GOLF a thing, according to a new analysis. Eh, I’m sure the WARNAMOUNT investment gains will totally even this out.
In 2024, LIV’s international arm was $462M in the hole.
The U.S. arm is private and doesn’t release numbers . . . but given I’ve yet to hear “Man, did you see that shot on the LIV tour this weekend?” from one person in 5 years — I’m gonna go with a negative number there as well.
HUH: Here’s a new one — an RSN is cutting prices! Much less one in New York and partially controlled by Charles Dolan! Yes, the GOTHAM SPORTS app (essentially a combo of YES NETWORK and MSG) is gonna cost you less in 2026:
Annual price: $300 (from $360)
Monthly price: $35 (From $41)
You can also get discounts on just YES NETWORK streaming ahead of the start of YANKEES season.
PLUS: SONY TV has opened applications for its Elevate Actors Fellowship program, giving “hands-on training, masterclasses, executive mentorship and direct access to casting directors, showrunners and studio leadership across the SPT ecosystem.” It runs for 5 weeks at the end of summer.
GOOD NEWS!: Now your chocolate doesn’t even contain chocolate. Yes, it seems cocoa has gotten a bit too pricey for the REESE’S folks . . . so yeah, now some of their candy does not have milk chocolate in it.
Keep an eye on the ingredient list for any REESE’S Easter treats you may buy this year, or look for references to “chocolate candy” or “chocolatey candy” on the packages, vs., ya know, milk chocolate.
FINALLY: Let’s finish out the top today with a #goodread from The Athletic to leave us with a better image from the end of the Winter Olympics . . . than this horseshit involving the head of the FBI flying to Olympics to chug beers with hockey players who, ya know, totally would have done the same thing with him if they were in high school together.
Trump also invited the men’s U.S. hockey team to the SOTU speech tonight when he called them after Kash Patel was done with their beers.
Some players have indicated they’ll be in D.C. today — but no word if they’ll just be there for a photo op . . . or choose to go sit through a likely 100-minute Trump monologue IRL (hopefully, the jet lag doesn’t kick in at the wrong moment).
Oh, the women were also invited — as Trump also indicated on the call to the guys that he would “probably be impeached” if he didn’t invite the women as well.
The women’s U.S. team said they couldn’t make it “due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
But instead, let’s round out with The Athletic’s look at all the mom athletes at the Winter Olympics who brought their kids, and the great vibes it set around the Olympic facilities throughout the 2 weeks in Italy.
Some of it is a change in attitudes around such activity, but a lot of it is women increasingly challenging the old notion that a return to Olympic competition isn’t going to happen after having children, and having longer athletic careers than in the past — several as medal winners.
THE WBD AUCTION
PSKY’s mystery bid, what’s ahead — and where a deal would put each company in Hollywood’s 💰 hierarchy
Well. WBD confirmed that PSKY has made a “revised” bid for WBD, which, yes, presumably would be higher than its existing bid.
It also clearly wanted a few members of the press to know that it did so yesterday . . . but it did not want you to know what’s actually in that bid. Isn’t Hollywood dealmaking fun?
So. Here we are. Is it $31 a share? $32 a share? Did they change to putting it all in rupees? Will we see Zaz in season 3 of Landman? Let your chatbot’s imagination run wild.
So, now what — and just how big are these companies going to get if either deal happens? And what’s this new Jeff Shell thing, exactly?