☀️ SONY Laying Off Hundreds: Who's Hit as Strategy Shifts
WB sets Hawley pic / 'Anaconda' scoring big for NETFLIX / HULU buys 50 Cent doc
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, April 8, 2026.
Where it’s always fun to decide which global crisis to start with in the morning here at the 15-month mark of Trump 2.0.
Yes, your oil prices may be finally starting to go down . . . then again, when a critical Saudi oil pipeline was hit by a drone today, maybe don’t readjust your budget just yet.
Back here at home — yeah, it may be getting closer to the time you should start downloading backups to local hard drives of everything you hold dear in the digital space . . . and maybe start holding more actual cash on hand.
ANTHROPIC is limiting the distribution of its latest MYTHOS AI bot because it seems not only to be too good at finding vulnerabilities in widely used operating systems, but also to be able to immediately hack / take control of them.
While this kind of doomsday PR tactic is not unusual at ANTHROPIC to boost its image of being at the forefront of the technology, it doesn’t mean it’s not legit.
A top ANTHROPIC exec said it’s likely only about a 6- to 18-month window before other AI systems develop similar capabilities — a number that some experts in the field also agreed with in Platformer’s look at the matter — hence why ANTHROPIC is limiting usage/testing of the MYTHOS to big tech companies (GOOGLE, AMAZON, CISCO, etc.) and cybersecurity firms at present.
While ANTHROPIC is giving $100M of usage credits across all companies testing the product, also note that this is not all altruism — ANTHROPIC is then charging 5x the amount to use MYTHOS vs. its OPUS model, with Stratechery pointing out that an inability to process all of the computing power could also be a factor in this more limited/exclusive rollout approach.
The company also announced it was dealing with limited processing capacity this week, according to The Information.
No matter what the strategy here — it’s getting increasingly weird to feel like we’re living in the first 20 minutes of the 2029 AI disaster movie equivalent of The Big Short, no? I gotta go buy some seeds.
GOOD NEWS: The Oscars will still be a good 2 months later than they should be for the next 2 years:
March 14, 2027
March 5, 2028
The PGA Awards will be on Feb. 27, 2027.
The Actor Awards will also be on Feb. 28, 2027. Love the team coordination on the announcements here!
THEN: The latest way for ad agencies to lay off more people? Training AI bots with the media buying expertise of their top traders, so that they can not only make programmatic exchange ad buys — they can handle the buying strategy, too, according to Ad Age. Those PE firms that bought into the agency space a couple of years ago were really right about the efficiencies! 👏
BUT: TIKTOK’s head of North America advertising, Khartoon Weiss, is leaving the company to pursue a “new opportunity” — certainly curious timing given the proximity of NewFronts and Upfronts.
KUDOS: Aubrey Plaza is having a baby with her partner, Chris Abbott, due this fall.
YUP: Add Greece to the list of countries banning social media use for kids under 15, starting next year.
FWIW: In an SEC filing yesterday, PSKY indicated that the Ellisons and REDBIRD will "continue to hold the largest equity stake in PSKY” after announcing the $24B-worth of Middle East investment in PSKY Class B shares (the Ellisons/REDBIRD control all voting/Class A stock).
AND: If you fly DELTA, you’ll be paying $10 more for checked bags now too, joining UNITED and JET BLUE . . . and yes, due to Trump’s Iran war effects on oil prices. And yes, I’m sure the prices will totally go back down whenever the oil crisis abates. 😂
BUT: If you’re on one of the . . . 4,000 private jets flying into Augusta, GA this week, I’m gonna guess luggage fees are not a problem for you. High jet fuel prices? Sorry, corporate travel budget — I really need to go watch The Masters in person . . . and for you to pay for it #CBSisForPoorPeople. But yeah — it’s the billionaire tax proposals that are really the problem in this country. #FFS🤬
💼 THE EXECUTIVE SUITE
