☀️ ‘Weapons’ Holds, 2025 Box Office Now 🤏 Vs. 2024
PAR’s notable movie window comments / HBO’s ‘Gilded’ ends high / COMCAST relegates another RSN
Evenin! 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 SUNDAY, August 17, 2025.
Where there’s nothing quite like showing the Mrs. how much you love her . . . like putting a 7-foot statue of her in a silver, flowing robe in your yard.
Or at least that’s how Zuck does it, according to this recent NY Times piece detailing how he has Frankenstein’d a compound together in his Crescent Park, CA neighborhood through buying 11 surrounding properties at a cost of over $110M. His neighbors are totally psyched.
But I mean, you know how it is . . . you just can’t have your pickleball court within 50 feet of your wife statue. Game regulations.
ALSO: Sorry, ESPN D2C / FOX ONE bundle debut — our new favorite showgirl, Taylor Swift, is taking Oct. 3 from you . . . and I’m gonna guess the October 4th SNL season premiere, too.
Place your bets on The Rock, Emily Blunt, Channing Tatum and the outsider choice of Jared Leto as host based on the fall movie calendar.
SO: Taylor’s New Heights episode may have garnered 17M+ YT views (of unknown duration) and unknown podcast downloads . . . but as Bloomberg points out — the show had no ad reads or presenting sponsors and only programmatic ads, which likely limited AMAZON/WONDERY’s actual revenue generation from the biggest event the podcast will have (until they announce the engagement, of course 💍).
ALTHOUGH: The Kelce Bros. GARAGE BEER brand had plenty of screen time behind Jason throughout the show. #BeerFTW🍻
AND: Clips on social had well over 400M+ views, which . . . well, place your own bets on where most of the money went from any ad revenue generated there. Palo Alto suburban compounds don’t build themselves, folks. Thanks, Tay-Tay!
PLUS: Another economic datapoint to follow up the less than rosy news about customer visit volume from the fast food & QSR (quick service restaurant) folks in Q2 earnings season — the change in foot traffic at convenience stores from June to July was also -1.3% YoY according to JEFFRIES EQUITY RESEARCH.
FWIW: Beer sales in convenience stores were also -3% in Q2 YoY (C-stores are beer’s largest single source of sales), continuing alcohol’s ongoing sales woes.
AND: I just love the irony here in Texas, where toxic waste fluid from shale drilling/fracking for oil is threatening to contaminate existing oil wells in the state. The call is coming from inside the house! 🤫
AH: Bastion of journalism OAN is now using GROK AI-generated images of U.S. soldiers as file footage b-roll, according to CNN.
YEAH: This NYT read on use of your kid’s photos on social media and AI nudifying apps was food for thought — although the idea to freeze your kid’s credit line to prevent unknown fraud that likely wouldn’t be discovered for years was probably more actionable and worth doing IMO.
HUH: Georgia really ain’t what it used to be, according to this WSJ read about the double whammy damage from the great mid-2020s Hollywood spending contraction and exodus to the U.K. (including a lotta MARVEL).
Productions with $40M+ budgets are -29% from 2022 to 2024, and +13% in the U.K.
THEN: 247 NBA regular-season games will be national / available on streaming services this season, +44% from last year, according to FOS. The rest of the inventory airs on RSNs (about 800 total).
The KNICKS (NYC), LAKERS (L.A.), WARRIORS (S.F.), and THUNDER (Oklahoma City/champions) have the most national games at 34 of their 82-game seasons (41%).
The NBA Champion runners-up INDIANA PACERS have . . . 9. Oof. Always great when the networks know your star player is already out for the year with an injury.
ALSO: AMAZON announced it’ll have Friday night doubleheaders starting Oct. 24 through Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), which I’m sure we’ll see heavily promoted on Thursday Night Football each week.
Then the schedule shifts to all the NBA Cup playoff games in December, and grows out from there come January onward.
AND: Once the NFL season ends, the NBA will have games on streaming every day of the week (a little over half of its season). So yes, the NBA is now basically taking the same approach as syndicated TV, and then some.
THANKFULLY: The folks at YAHOO SPORTS put together this handy chart for your fridge.
STILL TBA: If NIELSEN will be providing ratings for all of those streaming-only games (PEACOCK and AMAZON).
NASCAR did get NIELSEN ratings for its 5 AMAZON races.
But AMAZON’s WNBA and MLB games (it streams some YANKEES games) do not release viewership numbers.
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to 2 iconic names:
Hollywood restaurateur legend Dan Tana, who died at the age of 90.
Renown actor Terence Stamp, who died at the age of 87 this weekend. I also stumbled across the Siskel & Ebert review of Wall Street on YT for any other S&E stans, which is a pretty good split vote — Ebert has the right call.
IN THIS EDITION
The summer box office is now dangerously close to being worse than 2024 (and very likely flat at best) — dive into this weekend’s latest tallies.
How David Ellison’s first 3 moves are making a loud statement about New PARAMOUNT beyond just the 💰, just as Jeff Shell’s theatrical business comments from the L.A. meet the press day last week should be as well. Come read between the lines.
PLUS: Gilded Age ends at the top of its season 3 heater, BLUMHOUSE and BLACK BEAR make notable hires, COMCAST punts another RSN off the main offering and more.
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
