☀️ Wahlberg, Again! 10 Pics, 4 Years and Here’s Another

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, August 27, 2026.

Where the action at CITI FIELD in Queens, NY will finally be exciting for once tonight, and thankfully not reliant upon the NY METS to provide it (the 8-1 loss to the BREWERS last night was pretty much what it looked like).

Yes, tonight is Singles Night in Flushing, Queens, and ya gotta believe in that hustle from the NY METS marketing folks to find creative ways to get people out to CITI at the end of August to watch a 60-73 team in last place in its division . . . with the 2nd most expensive payroll in MLB.

Besides, where else can you find a guy in NYC that loves watching sports?

PLUS: Chris Hansen is putting the industry’s in-theater advertising business to full use — he’s buying ad space before all of A24’s Primetime screenings to advertise his TRUBLU streaming service. We’ll see if he sprung for a primo slot after the last trailer . . . or if it’ll air before the trailers when 5 people are there.

WELL: This was a curious memo from UTA to its staff about a Variety story from Matt Donnelly about the agency yesterday.

SO: No more NFL Pro Bowl, as the league is finally putting this “game” out of its misery.

ALSO: No more “ticker” at the bottom of the screen during college football games on ESPN, updating you on the scores of the day . . . because it was just too convenient for viewers to find out what happened in games earlier in the day. #GoToTheESPNApp🙏

AND: DIS+ subs, you’ll be getting a good amount of ESPN college football this fall — 2 games in addition to College GameDay.

• It won’t include the big primetime games, naturally, but you’ll get a noon game and a 3:30 p.m. game (one of which may also be on free ABC depending upon the week).

THEN: Busy Philipps shared this week how she recently dealt with a brain tumor and her recovery.

#FUNFACT: NVIDIA is owed over $63B by its customers, +55% YoY. It now takes about 60 days to collect money from said customers, up from 45 in Q1. Pay up, deadbeats!

• Eh, it’s not like NVIDIA will be left holding the bag on those commitments should, perish the thought, any of them go belly up, right?

ALSO: Just a couple of check-ins on broadcast TV audiences for some special programming over the past week:

• CBS’ horse competition show Run For a Million, co-hosted by Taylor Sheridan, got 982k viewers on Saturday night. The WNBA game in the slot the prior Saturday got 1.6M viewers.
• ABC’s Patriot Games competition from the Trump administration got 1.2M viewers last Thursday, down from 2.9M for Press Your Luck in the time slot the previous week.

AH: Enjoy your latest salvo in the PSKY crusade, with state AGs from Iowa and Montana filing a motion with the Supreme Court to have the antitrust suit thrown out . . . which apparently has little to no legal basis, according to some experts in the legal field. So, I’m super psyched our time is seemingly being wasted once again, while actual material actions to move things forward one way or another are still not being put forth.

• BUT: With the META settlement yesterday, that’s one big case cleared off the slate in which Rob Bonta is involved, so we’ll see if a certain meeting gets rescheduled before the Labor Day break.
• Bonta’s office is currently reviewing this new salvo from Iowa and Montana government officials advocating for PSKY.

🙋‍♂️ GIVE US A PIECE OF YOUR MIND:

The Ankler wants to know what you like about it, and what can be done better! Please, no comments about my use of ALL CAPS, but my weekly fashion choices on the Ankler Agenda pod are fair game.

• Take the 2026 Ankler Audience Survey, and you’ll be eligible to win a $500 AMEX gift card if you do so by Sept. 1 (and it doesn’t take long at all to do).

YAH: Nice to see META taking the “If we’re going down, we’re taking you with us, bro!” approach to PR. Then again, when your legal costs are uh, $10B for Q3 alone . . . ya gotta make sure they pay off in other areas.

Remember that just 2 days ago — META was a company staunchly contesting and actively fighting against all of these harm accusations against minors.

KUDOS: Just a ⛳️👏 to SONY PICTURES on both the timing for the drop of the new The Social Reckoning trailer late yesterday, and for a much better cut. Well done! Highly recommend a watch.

FINALLY: A sad couple of weeks, but a rest in peace goes out to the very talented Tim Curry, who died at the age of 80.

I know Rocky Horror gets all the love — but this was always my favorite. Also, here’s a CBS Sunday Morning profile of him from last year.

WAKEUP Box Office Prediction

DISNEYFOX’s The Dog Stars is the top new entrant this weekend . . . although KETCHUP’s Coyote vs. Acme might catch it, and potentially top it.

Dog Stars is looking like anywhere from $8M-ish to $14M if you’re feeling more optimistic. I’m not feeling that, despite a healthy marketing spend from DISNEYFOX . . . so put me in for $9M to $11M.

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🎥 The Silver Screen