☀️ SONY Gets Into AMAZON, Matt & Ben Biz
META, TIKTOK Eyeing TV Ad Biz 💰 / COMCAST exits Germany / NETFLIX gets Kreischer show
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 Friday, June 27, 2025.
Where I’m gonna have to make this one a little brisk today — Bezos is a real stickler for being on time for the afternoon bocce game, and you just know Rushfield is gonna be running behind when I go pick him up on the gondola 🙄 (as I keep trying to tell Jeff — we’re on Italian time, not AMAZON time!).
Hope you all enjoy doing whatever it is that you’re doing this weekend, that we all know is wholly inferior.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish customizing my resume for Vogue.
THEN: When folks ask me if I use AI as part of my Wakeup work process, my reply is always no (for better or worse, this newsletter is all from my brain) — although mainly that’s because in all of my reading . . . I’ve yet to come across a single thing that indicates to me that it’ll save me time, or make this newsletter better.
Frankly, I’m also rather concerned that a few early studies have shown people who use AI bots consistently show decreased cognitive skills (thinking for yourself) within just a few months . . . and it also has early links to potential increased loneliness.
BUT: For the curious — ESG also seems to second this AI productivity quandary notion in a new column.
Although unlike me, he also actually made several attempts at using the latest AI bots in his workflow process, to what sounds like . . . little success. An intriguing, very practical read.
ALSO: Just a reminder that “No one knows anything” doesn’t just pertain to Hollywood — for all of the Wall Street “expert” bluster at the end of last year about the era of dealmaking that the Trump 2.0 era would usher in:
OH: The gold TRUMP MOBILE phones are no longer described as “Made in the USA” — I mean, what are the odds?
Rather, enjoy the new “American-proud design” of the phones for “real Americans” who enjoy a product likely mostly made in Asia . . . which ironically is actually “real American” behavior when it comes down to it.
I look forward to the Don Jr. news conference noting the significant changes to the product that was announced . . . 11 days ago.
BUT: Funny how TV news biz lawsuits can go both ways.
THEN: Formerly bankrupt radio station conglomerate AUDACY announced it’s shutting down its PINEAPPLE STUDIOS podcast production arm, with about 30 folks now out of a job according to Variety, and it’s largely exiting the pod biz — although it’ll continue to produce some existing pods (Dana Carvey & David Spade’s pod, The Severance Podcast, etc).
WTF: Brad Pitt’s Los Feliz home was broken into and ransacked on Wednesday night. No one was home at the time.
NOTE FOR MOM: DISCOVERY’s HGTV has made quite a few cancellations this month . . . including Farmhouse Fixer, Married to Real Estate, Izzy Does It and Bargain Block.
SO: Hockey is soon going to start in September instead of October (guys — think of the ice!) as the NHL is adding 2 more regular-season games come the 2026-27 season, to hit 84 regular-season games a year.
OH: Homes being underwater is starting to become a more prevalent thing again (uh, financially — not in the climate change sense, yet). This occurs when people owe more on their mortgages than their home is currently worth on the market.
Granted, this is nowhere near the point where things got uh, “last time” you often heard the term “underwater” in real estate #TheBigShort — but the WSJ takes a look at numbers in some select areas in previous “Covid boom” states like TX and FL where this is being seen.
Some real estate agents are even seeing homeowners specifically looking to sell at a loss now — not because they have a reason to move . . . but because they’re figuring that their losses will only increase in the months ahead.
BUT: You know the market is in great shape when SPACs are starting to show life again — granted, nothing like the 2021 boom that . . . really went nowhere fast and most thought made little sense.
But with $11B raised so far this year for these essentially publicly traded holding companies in search of a
reason to existreal company to buy — that’s not nothing.
YEAH: This new unemployment data also isn’t great. How’s that job hiring market, eh? Granted, Elon’s Q1 DOGE cuts probably didn’t help this . . . but going back further than this chart — this 👇 is now at the highest number since Nov. 2021.
AND: UNIVERSAL announced that Chicago will be its next destination for a new, year-round horror “experience” (or theme park-lite), after its upcoming location in Vegas opens later this year.
Universal Horror Unleashed: Chicago will open in 2027 at 700 W. Chicago Avenue, across from a forthcoming casino.
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to a staple of the news business, as former CBS NEWS and PBS mainstay Bill Moyers died at the age of 91 after a long illness, and to legendary composer Lalo Schifrin, Oscar-nominated composer of the MI theme and music for Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Starsky & Hutch among many others, who died at the age of 95.
WAKEUP POLL RESULTS
Well, it seems your thoughts on F1 are about as diverse as the ones I’ve been getting over the past week.
Count me in as an optimist here — I think the campaign delivered and IMAX/PLF will juice the numbers — but also count me in as very curious to see the CinemaScore on this one.
M3GAN 2.0 — I think this one will cross $20M, so count me in with the populists here.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
FINALLY:
If my inbox is any indication — everyone has an opinion on the state of Hollywood . . . and Ashley Cullins of The Ankler’s Dealmakers column wants yours!
She’s in the midst of her analysis of Q2 activity around town for her latest Dealmakers Survey (trademark pending) and would really love to hear from all of you industry exec folk!
SO: Weigh in here anonymously with this 8 question survey — and if you have any additional thoughts, definitely reach out to her at ashley@theankler.com.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
