Business of Hollywood Intro for August 14, 2026 Dear Gossips, After several straight years of mostly bad box office news, this year is mostly good box office news. A welcome change! 2026 continues on pace to be the biggest box office year since 2019, most recently bolstered by the twin billion-dollar successes of The Odyssey and Spider- By Sarah • Aug 14, 2026 09:08 am
Ben Affleck Netflix loves Ben Affleck It feels like Ben Affleck has been really busy as a director, but Air, the last film he directed, came out in 2023. How has it already been three years since the time Ben Affleck made a biopic for a shoe? In other areas, he has stayed busy, acting in By Sarah • Aug 13, 2026 10:05 am
Business of Hollywood The Paramount-WBD merger is on hold A couple of weeks ago I checked in on the state of the fakakta Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which has been snarled up in court as multiple state attorneys general have filed anti-trust suits against Paramount. At that time, I said, “We’ll see how that shakes out, By Sarah • Jul 27, 2026 02:07 pm
David Jonsson Marvel bounces back with good news Marvel’s Hall H presentation happened Saturday night, and though Kevin Feige was focused on the future of the MCU, it felt like a blast from the past, with stunts and a huge assemblage of famous people to promote upcoming films. Kayleigh Donaldson called it a “recession indicator” in the By Sarah • Jul 27, 2026 10:19 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for July 24, 2026 Dear Gossips, As we sprint toward August for no reason that makes sense except somehow it must be the sun’s fault, lineups for the fall film festivals are being unveiled. Venice’s lineup is out, and similar to Cannes earlier this year, it has almost no films from Hollywood By Sarah • Jul 24, 2026 09:27 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Dork Storm 2026: Dorkrooms Comic-Con begins today. I knew it was coming but at the same time, it took me a little bit by surprise, in part because it seems like July has just flown by, but also because the run up to Comic-Con feels…muted, compared to what it was a By Sarah • Jul 23, 2026 10:57 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Dine out on my Batman conspiracy theory I really, really liked Matt Reeves’ The Batman when it came out in 2022, since then, it has only risen in my estimation. I think it’s one of the best superhero movies ever made, and arguably the best Batman movie ever made. The film, released into the only-just- By Sarah • Jul 16, 2026 12:10 pm
Business of Hollywood Intro for July 16, 2026 Dear Gossips, It’s a random Thursday so let’s try something different: good news! After years of delays and uncertainty and losses, the theatrical box office actually seems to be bouncing back in a big way. 2026 is only half over and is shaping up to be the biggest By Sarah • Jul 16, 2026 09:12 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for July 15, 2026 Dear Gossips, The fakakta Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is in the news again, because of court proceedings culminating at the end of the week, so let’s check on the state of things. In short: bad! A dozen state attorneys general, including the one from California, which we will By Sarah • Jul 15, 2026 09:13 am
Business of Hollywood Amazon MGM drops Luca Guadagnino’s OpenAI movie Today in Burn It All Down News, Amazon MGM Studios has dropped Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film about Sam Altman and OpenAI. The news first broke Friday via Puck, and The Hollywood Reporter confirms that not only has Amazon MGM dropped the film—the third from Guadagnino that they were By Sarah • Jun 22, 2026 01:23 pm
Business of Hollywood Intro for June 22, 2026 Dear Gossips, For the entire history of Netflix releasing original films, I have been a straight up hater on the idea of them ever investing in the theatrical business in a meaningful way. This comes after multiple conversations over many years with different people of increasing levels of power within By Sarah • Jun 22, 2026 09:04 am
What Else Emily & John: Please don’t lip-read I saw this video of Emily Blunt and John Krasinski last night at the NYC premiere of Disclosure Day and, honestly, my first thought was how she was working that dress but then when he comes into frame my second thought was about all that f-ckass lip-reading nonsense By Lainey • Jun 09, 2026 04:13 pm
Tom Cruise Tom Cruise’s Summer Movie Tom Cruise is the unofficial movie star ambassador of the theatrical experience. He only makes movies, no television. He only makes movies that are screened in theatres, preferably IMAX. He is known to have gone out of his way to ensure that his movies hit theatres first, never streaming. It By Lainey • Jun 09, 2026 02:15 pm
Business of Hollywood Intro for May 29, 2026 Dear Gossips, This week The Wrap published an op-ed from Tobias Queisser, the co-founder and CEO of The Cinelytic Group, a “provider of decision intelligence solutions” aimed at Hollywood. In his op-ed, Tobias Queisser argues that the problems facing Hollywood—mega-mergers, mass lay-offs, uneven box By Sarah • May 29, 2026 09:34 am
Conan O`Brien Intro for May 13, 2026 Dear Gossips, The Oscar Academy confirmed yesterday that Conan O’Brien will return to host the Oscars next year, for the third year in a row. And I’m pretty sure nobody is mad about this. This, as people have been saying for years, is a thankless job (that doesn’ By Lainey • May 13, 2026 09:37 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Michael B. Jordan’s animated movie Michael B. Jordan is a busy guy. He’s winning Oscars, he’s working on his remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, he’s going to co-star with Austin Butler in Joseph Kosinski’s Miami Vice remake, which I am sure will be a note-perfect popcorn movie, but By Sarah • Apr 27, 2026 10:29 am
