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TEGNA and Disney Entertainment Television Renew ABC Affiliation Agreements in 13 Markets
TEGNA and Disney have entered into a comprehensive, multi-year deal that renews station affiliation agreements for all of TEGNA’s ABC-affiliated stations....
Watch a Turtle Surrounded by Butterflies: The Science Behind This Adorable Moment
Someone get this little turtle a Disney princess dress!
Character.AI files for bankruptcy, citing legal headwinds
Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 to pursue a sale, while Disney offered $20 million for a licence to certain assets.
Report: Epic Games goes all-in on AI for Disney collaboration
No more hand-written code" or AI-free art for delayed Marvel/Star Wars shooter.
Epic Games delays Disney game and tells developers to go "AI first"
Epic Games has delayed its upcoming Disney collaboration - a shooter featuring characters from the Marvel and Star Wars…
Hailee Steinfeld, Rashida Jones star in new 'Hexed' trailer
The character Billie appears in 'Hexed.' (Disney)
Disney creators build original witch world for upcoming film ‘Hexed’
By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Oct 12 (Reuters) - For director Fawn Veerasunthorn, the upcoming Disney animated fantasy film “Hexed” is a mother-daughter love story that comes with a set
Marlon Brando had key connection to Disney legend’s mom — whom Don Rickles also ‘had a crush’ on (exclusive)
“He’d go, ‘Julie! Admit it! You love me!’” Joe Rohde tells EW on stage at New York Comic Con.
Top Entertainment Stocks To Follow Today
Verizon Communications, Walt Disney, SEA, Spotify Technology, Roblox, GameStop, and Autodesk are the seven Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, distributing, or deliver
Cardi B Turns 34 After Showing Her Four Kids a Life Beyond Luxury: ‘It's Not Always Disney’
Cardi B turns 34 on October 11, marking her first birthday as a mother of four. The rapper shares Kulture, 8, Wave, 5, and Blossom, ... Read More
We're moms with 7 kids between us, and we went to Disney World alone
My friend and I are both moms and left our seven kids at home to go to Disney World. We visited three parks, rode 12 rides, and loved every minute.
Netflix’s Summer of Bummer
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Today, I’ve got a guest post from longtime friend of the newsletter, Brandon Katz. I’ve been trying to find time all summer to look at Netflix’s straight-to-streaming film slate, but between a pre-planned trip and Nielsen moving up their streaming data timeline, I’ve been swamped. So I reached out to Brandon, one of my favorite fellow analysts, to write about it. And I feel like he captured the tone and data focus of the newsletter perfectly. You can connect with Brandon on LinkedIn and Twitter. Enjoy! Don’t worry, folks. You’re in safe hands with me. To ease any anxieties about an interloper in ESG’s domain, I’ll start by stealing one of his best framing devices: headlines. Box office flops are covered in the same way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eye pizza: with cartoonish insatiability. I would know. I’m a former reporter who wrote nearly identical headlines: Yet, intentionally or not, streaming misses get treated with kids gloves, filtered through a rosy lens: In the last six years, U.S. streaming viewership has become nearly as transparent as the box office, but the data often arrives weeks later, in a number of less intuitive metrics, and with nary an official budget to be found. This plays into the Wall Street-whispering narratives major streamers have been cultivating for years. They get a pass in a way that theatrical studios simply don’t. Subscribe Netflix’s Summer Slate Not a single Netflix original film released between May and August this year opened above 20 million U.S. TV hours, per Nielsen. That benchmark usually serves as the EntStrategyGuy’s floor for a streaming hit on Netflix. None of these films enjoyed a hit-cementing single week of 20-plus million hours during their runs. Netflix’s two best films were true crime docs, Maternal Instinct (16.5 million hours) and The Crash (19.7 million), the best overall week for a film this summer. Great for most other streamers, but not necessarily what we’re used to seeing from Netflix. For an overly-dramatic comparison, Happy Gilmore 2 opened last summer to around 47 million hours (celebrity cameos, baby!). Zooming out, the picture looks even worse. In 2026, Netflix’s five biggest scripted summer films posted the lowest average (28.6 million hours) and median (28.8 million hours) eight-week viewership totals of the past four years. Now, it’s unrealistic and unfair to expect Netflix to deliver a _KPop Demon Hunters-_sized hit every year. But it’s also not ideal to see the size of their hits shrinking over the last few summers. Let’s quickly run through some of the notable summer misses. Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein’s perfectly fine romcom, Office Romance, fell off the charts after 20 million hours in its first two weeks. Top films usually last for four-plus weeks. Starry titles ideally don’t decay that fast either. Homegrown star Millie Bobby Brown couldn’t prevent the snappy Enola Holmes franchise from diminishing returns. At 14.3 million U.S. hours, the third film posted roughly half of what the first two films did in their first two weeks. What’s on Netflix calculated that per-day global views were down nearly 60% from the second movie. The Whisper Man did okay with more than 36 million hours over its first four weeks. But I expected a little more juice from a film featuring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Adam Scott. Kevin Hart’s Ladies First collected just 11.2 million hours total across two weeks. That’s a big miss for one of Netflix’s go-to stars. Plopping into the same bucket are Sunny Sandler’s Don’t Say Good Luck (10.3 million in two weeks) and John Cena’s Little Brother (17.5 million). Meanwhile, English-language originals Color Book (June 19), In the Hand of Dante (June 24) and Heartstopper Forever (July 17) never sniffed Nielsen’s Top 10 at all, despite needing only 2 to 5 million hours to land in the top ten most weeks. (By my count, eleven English-language scripted original films released between May and August did chart). It’s only fair to mention that Swapped (1-May) posted nearly 42 million U.S. hours over five weeks (the longest Netflix original run this summer) and is currently their eighth most-watched English-language film ever worldwide. Remarkably Bright Creatures (37 million, 4 weeks) and Voicemails for Isabelle (27 million, 4 weeks) weren’t bombs either. Still, overall, I think it’s fair to say this was a quieter summer season than we’re used to seeing from the market-leader. You might not realize that given the language commonly used in public analysis. The Twist Despite the starkly black-and-white tone of the coverage, here’s the twist: when many box office bombs arrive on streaming, their viewership looks a whole lot like many of Netflix’s supposedly successful summer releases. Hmm, where have we heard that one before? Masters of the Universe topped out at $65 million stateside against a $170 million budget_._ I’ll admit, Skeletor ripping sleeveless curls as a gym bro and bodyslamming Adam’s co-workers was funny. But, much to the chagrin of my bank account, my laughter doesn’t launch franchises. Yet the He-Man reboot opened to 19.6 million hours (from a Wednesday five-day opening instead of just one weekend), on par with Hoppers on Disney+ (19.4 million). It put up nearly 47 million hours over its first six weeks, bigger than all of Netflix’s summer releases. Pretty darn healthy and likely to land among the 25 most-watched movies on streaming this year. Sticking with Amazon, The Sheep Detectives just barely broke even at the box office with $133 million worldwide (and only $66 million domestic). I never expected cloven-hooved, cud-chewing mammals to be able to bring me to tears. Yet that’s exactly how I found myself at the end of this surprisingly affecting movie (#NoShame). It was likely the unexpected quality in a family-friendly film that powered its streaming over-performance. Sheep Detectives delivered a solid run for Prime video netting 26.2 million hours! How about franchise IP? Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu had the lowest opening ($81 million) and lowest-grossing Disney-era live-action Star Wars film ($178 million domestic). One day before release, its Heat score (19.8%)—audiences who list their interest as a 7/7—fell behind blockbusters Wicked (21%), Superman (23%), Fantastic Four: First Steps (23%), Michael (23%), Toy Story 5 (26%) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (27%), according to Greenlight Analytics. The urgent enthusiasm just wasn’t there. On streaming, Mando opened to weeks of 12.1 million, 6.1 million and 2.7 million hours (21 million total) over its first three frames. Not the numbers Lucasfilm was hoping for nor the numbers of a streaming hit. But they’re in the same vicinity as some Netflix summer releases with $345 million at the global box office to offset a smidgen of the pain. Final Thoughts So why oh why does this nuance gap exist? Four key reasons: Data Literacy: A “$100 million opening” just makes sense. After decades of box office reporting, even casual movie fans are well-versed in the benchmarks of hits and home runs. There’s an immediate shorthand. But “16.5 million” hours doesn’t land nearly as cleanly. Despite leaps of progress, the streaming ratings era is still in its infancy compared to theatrical. The EntStrategyGuy and I met thanks to a late 2010s group chat of data nerds hungry to find a shred of certainty in nebulous streaming performance. I’m not surprised to see “No. 1 on Netflix” still getting misconstrued out in the wild. Timing: By Friday morning, we have the box office’s Thursday night previews totaled, allowing us to better project the weekend’s expectations. From there, ticket sales are reported daily. By Sunday, the film’s fate is usually finalized, at least in terms of public perception. In streaming, Nielsen recently improved its delay to…two weeks. The medium isn’t forced to contend with instant gratification as harshly. Financials: Theatrical film budgets are a mere Google away. Profit and loss is calculated in the cold and unforgiving naked light of day for all to see. But finding the vast majority of streaming exclusive movie budgets requires the forensic investigation skills of a Criminal Minds detective. Also, it’s very difficult to calculate how much revenue/value a straight-to-streaming films provides a streamer. This is why there are so few stories about streaming original movies “losing X amount of money”. On top of that, marketing budgets are far greater for theatrical movies than streaming exclusive movies, which leads to earlier and better awareness. This then translates to a wider pool of potential interest. Narrative Control: Netflix is the only major streaming service to publish weekly first-hand viewership data and annual engagement reports. Naturally, some headlines borrow their first-hand framing**.** Other streamers benefit from their comparative lack of transparency. They may occasionally announce vague performance platitudes such as Apple TV’s Mayday becoming its “biggest film debut on the platform to date over its first 18 days,” and that it ranked No. 1 with left-handed viewers in its first weekend. (Fine, I made up that second one). But, for the most part, they keep first-hand viewership shrouded in mystery to avoid bad press. Especially for outlets that demand multiple articles per day from their writers, it’s an easy (and understandable) way for some reporters to hit their daily article quota by just repeating what the streamers have told them. TL:DR version: Streaming-exclusive movies are asked to do different things than theatrical movies, but that doesn’t mean they should escape judgment. Both still need to draw enough eyeballs to justify their cost within the proper performance contexts. The more cleanly we can inject a little nuance into streaming analysis, the better we’ll understand the audience and content trends that drive this industry. And that’s what all of this is really about: knowing what audiences actually want! Brandon Katz is the Director of Insights & Content Strategy at Greenlight Analytics where he focuses on evaluating the ever-fluid media landscape to unearth understanding, opportunity and value. Greenlight Analytics is the entertainment intelligence consulting company redefining how Hollywood finds, understands, and activates audiences. Prior to joining Greenlight Analytics, he served as the senior entertainment industry strategist at Parrot Analytics, and as a full-time entertainment industry reporter covering the Xs and Os of Hollywood, most notably with TheWrap and the Observer.
Promising Entertainment Stocks To Watch Now
Verizon Communications, Spotify Technology, Walt Disney, Roblox, Take-Two Interactive Software, SEA, and GameStop are the seven Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, dis
Joe Buck to guest star on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Disney knows no bounds when it comes to promoting the fact that ABC and ESPN are showing the Super Bowl this year. And that includes one of their longest-running entertainment franchises, Dancing with...
She never felt like she fit in. Then Disney came calling.
"Descendants" actress Kiara Romero opens up about her curls, childhood bullying and connecting with Gen Alpha fans on the Worlds Collide tour.
US Supreme Court Won't Speed up Democratic Challenge to FCC Political Ad Policy, for Now
By John Kruzel WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Siding with Republicans, the US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Federal Communications Commission to avoid for now a judicially imposed deadline in a Democratic challenge to the agency's new political advertising policy. With November midterm ...
New Gehry concert hall takes shape in downtown Los Angeles
A pet project of architect Frank Gehry, a smaller concert hall to complement his legendary Walt Disney Concert Hall, is taking shape in downtown Los Angeles for an opening next
CNN guest calls out “The View” to Ana Navarro’s face live on air
The Republican “View” cohost remained silent as Scott Jennings criticized the talk show amid Disney’s recent tussle with the Federal Communications Commission.
Disney Believe: Homeport, maiden, venues, shows announced for new cruise ship
Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship will sail out of Fort Lauderdale by the end of 2027, the company announced during a livestream event Wednesday. The Disney Believe, the cruise line’s
Locally authored ‘The Other Disney’ discovers gold, twice
SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY — “The Other Disney,” a novel by Hallstead physician-author Dr. Bernard Leo Remakus, tells the story of a father, who has just lost his job, and a resourceful
MORNING BUSINESS REPORT: Used car prices dropping, Super Bowl to be streamed on Disney+
Jane King has these stories and more from the New York Stock Exchange for your Thursday Morning Business Report.
Disney Believe to debut new entertainment and dining experiences in December 2027
Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Believe will enter service on 18 December 2027, with the new Wish-class ship set to introduce new entertainment, dining and accommodation across its public spaces and...
You can watch beloved Disney titles on Netflix starting this month
In a pretty major collab, the Mouse is joining forces with Netflix to deliver some of its popular TV shows and movies. According to Variety, Disney is licensing some of its titles to the streamer to d...
Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.
'Zootopia'-Themed Entertainment Venue GAZELLE Coming to Disney Believe
A daily-updated resource for news and information on the Disney resort around the world.
Disney World guests banned after jumping into Epcot boat ride water
Disney World guests were banned after jumping into the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride’s water at Epcot. ‘This behavior was unsafe and a clear violation of our park rules,’ a Disney World rep tells EW.
ESPN's 2027 Super Bowl telecast will stream on Disney+
The Super Bowl is coming to Disney+. The Walt Disney Co. announced Wednesday that ESPN's telecast of the NFL's marquee event on Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California,
ESPN's Super Bowl 61 broadcast to also stream on Disney+
ESPN announced on Tuesday that its broadcast of Super Bowl 61 will also be streamed on Disney+. Disney+ will stream the ESPN/ABC broadcast as well as the Spanish-language telecast on
ESPN's Super Bowl 61 broadcast to also stream on Disney+
ESPN announced on Tuesday that its broadcast of Super Bowl 61 will also be streamed on Disney+. Disney+ will stream the ESPN/ABC broadcast as well as the Spanish-language telecast on
ESPN's Super Bowl 61 broadcast to also stream on Disney+
(AP) — ESPN announced on Tuesday that its broadcast of Super Bowl 61 will also be streamed on Disney+.Disney+ will stream the ESPN/ABC broadcast as well as the Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes in the United States.
Promising Entertainment Stocks To Consider
Spotify Technology, Walt Disney, Verizon Communications, Roblox, Skydance, Autodesk, and SEA are the seven Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in industries such as film, television
ESPN's 2027 Super Bowl telecast will stream on Disney+
The streaming service will carry the NFL's marquee event along with two "Monday Night Football" games this season.
US Agency Considers Allowing New AI Political Robocalls Before Election
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission urged the agency on Wednesday not to approve a petition to allow political AI-generated robocalls from conservative political group Club for Growth. The group, which is spending millions of dollars ...
Disney+ enters NFL streaming with Super Bowl, two more games
Add another streaming platform to the NFL slate. ESPN and Disney+ announced plans to stream the Super Bowl and other NFL games.
'Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu' Returns Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Oct. 7
Disney’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu strikes back at No. 1 on the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainmetn sales chart through Oct. 7. Last week’s chart-topper, Universal’s Disclosure Day slipped one spot to No. 2, while at No. 3 is Arrow Films’ newcommer A Better Tomorrow Trilogy. The newly restored collection … Continue reading "‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu’ Returns Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Oct. 7"
Disney Believe Entertainment Guide: Shows, Characters & More.
What entertainment will be on the Disney Believe? We’re tracking all of the stage shows, character appearances, deck parties, kids clubs, and other entertainment coming to Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship. Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Believe, is preparing to set sail in late 2027. And while there’s still quite a bit Disney ...
Disney World raises prices of annual passes, tickets
An already expensive visit to the “Most Magical Place on Earth” is about to get even costlier as Walt Disney World raises prices for annual passes and some single-day tickets.
Skydance's $80 Billion Debt: Warner Bros., Paramount Owner's Reality
The combined company now has the scale to take on Netflix and Disney, but little room for error as it balances massive spending on film and TV with servicing its crushing financial obligations.
“Boy Meets World” star Matthew Lawrence recalls ‘dysfunction’ on “Girl Meets World ”set: ‘It was very weird’
Lawrence spoke to EW about reprising the role of Jack on a 2015 episode of the Disney Channel spinoff.
Disney star Christy Carlson Romano talks new book, stage moms, more
Christy Carlson Romano knows how to play a role, but finding herself has proven to be her greatest performance.
West Philadelphia entrepreneur brings water ice business to Disneyland
A West Philadelphia entrepreneur has brought a Philadelphia favorite to Disneyland, making history in the process.
Fall Preview with Entertainment Correspondent Mike Marra
Airdate: October 5th, 2026 Leoni Township Update with Administrator Mike JesterOctober 5, 2026City Treasurer Hosting Town Hall Meeting SeriesOctober 5, 2026Tecumseh Appleumpkin Festival This WeekendOctober 5, 2026Fall Preview with Entertainment Correspondent Mike MarraOctober 5, 2026Disney’s Frozen Premieres Thursday at The SaukOctober 5, 2026Alison McGlynn & Lilly Hayworth, The Annex Collective SalonOctober 5, 2026John Spink, Nite…
Why I Don’t Think Ride Or Die Should Have Been Cancelled (And What Company Should Save It...)
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) So…I recently came across a Reddit thread, talking about films on streaming, wondering why there are no reliable sources out there for streaming ratings data. Sigh. Honestly, as annoyed as I am that so many still don’t realize that we have streaming ratings, I somewhat get it. Until now, there was such a long delay between when a show or film came to streaming and when we got its viewership data; I understand why people were confused. (But, as you know, this just changed.) Also, even back in the day, how many people knew how well films did on television? Luckily, as a reader, you’re in the know. Okay, on to this week’s issue. I want to take a look at Prime Video cancelling Ride or Die and whether I agree with that decision. Overall, we didn’t have any breakout hits (no TV shows landed over 20 million hours according to Nielsen) but we have a lot of steady performers on the streaming charts. Plus, we’ll look at where $50 million in missing box office dollars went. (Spoiler: straight-to-streaming.) All that, plus new episodes of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Supergirl heads to streaming, a new YA show does well on Netflix, the viewership for the Daily Wire’s $50 million fantasy show, what TV show hit-maker can’t make streaming hits, CD sales, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of September 7th to September 13th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Ride or Die Is a Hit…But It Got Cancelled? What The Data “Says” I hate the phrase “here’s what the data says”, even though sometimes I find myself using it. If data just told us everything, we data folks would be out of a job! Data is often messy, complicated and nuanced. When it comes to strategy, many of the best decisions can’t actually use “data”, since it’s vastly too complicated to model. Anyways, I’ve been singing the praises of Prime Video’s Ride Or Die this summer, a show that did very well for them. And yet…it got cancelled. Now, usually when a show gets cancelled, a bunch of websites say “a hit show got cancelled”... Here’s the thing, though: in this case, they’re right! The data “says” that this show was a hit. Specifically, out of 522 first seasons to make a week on the Nielsen charts since 2020, it’s the 75th biggest. On Amazon, Ride or Die is eighth out of 41 first seasons: That’s top 15th percentile all time, almost exactly, which is my definition of a “hit”! I mean, outside of Reacher, Amazon needed a hit this summer! (Admittedly, Off Campus did well for Amazon in the spring, but Ride or Die performed even better.) So what happened? Why did Amazon cancel one of their rare 2026 bright spots? Well, Deadline reported a reason—which I’ll get to—but I’d break it down into three relevant questions: What is a given streamer’s reasoning? Is that reasoning sound? Could the stated reason not be the real reason? According to Deadline, Amazon felt the show “over-indexed” in middle-aged women. (This was based on leaks from within Amazon.) The logic is this: Amazon already reaches this demographic because of unlimited two-day shipping bundled with Prime, so they don’t really need more shows like this. Now, it’s my job to ask if that’s a good reason, and I’ll be honest, in this case, I don’t think it is. Sure, this show may “over-index” in middle-aged women—I’ll just assume that’s the case here—but I think folks often oversell how important over-indexing actually is. When a show is a “hit”, it isn’t a bit bigger than its rivals; it’s usually multiples bigger. For example, Elle only made the charts for two weeks at 8.3 million hours each. So Ride or Die was 80% bigger in its first two weeks, and likely had a much stronger hold, with its terrific 13 million hours in week three. Ride or Die was nearly three times bigger than Sterling Point through three weeks too. And that means that _Elle, Sterling Point a_nd other Amazon YA shows need to not just over-index a little with younger women (assuming that’s who Amazon prefers over middle-aged women), but massively over-index. Otherwise, more people in that demo (and a bunch more besides) likely watched Ride or Die. (I’ll try to explore this concept more in a future article.) And don’t get me started on how Ride or Die did compared to a certain (very, very popular, possibly the world’s most popular) YouTuber’s reality show…which didn’t make the charts after its first week and likely cost much, much more than Ride or Die. All to say, Amazon-MGM Studios/Prime Video can tell reporters that this show didn’t reach the right audience, but that excuse feels weak to me. So this leads to the third question: could other reasons have come into play? Yes! Renewal or cancellation decisions rarely (I’m tempted to say “never”) boil down to one variable. At its simplest, it’s two things: budget versus viewership. But often factors like critical acclaim, ownership and, yes, personal opinion come into play. In this case, Amazon has a new executive running things, and this show isn’t owned by Amazon-MGM Studios (unlike Elle). And yes, it may not have indexed with the right target viewers, too. Likely all of those factors came into play.1 My guess is ownership ended up mattering most. Amazon doesn’t own Ride or Die. It’s actually produced by another major studio. Fortunately/allegedly, this show is being shopped around. I can think of one brand new CEO who should consider it for one of his two major streamers…especially if he wants to rebuild goodwill in Hollywood. His name is on this list of exec producers of Ride or Die… If David Ellison needs some goodwill—and he does—rescue this female-led show tomorrow and grab some good headlines for a day. The data justifies it. Quick Notes on TV We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… How The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives latest season did on Hulu, post-controversy... Whether Supergirl soared on HBO Max... Why the box office is losing money due to the streamers... The viewership for the Daily Wire’s $50 million fantasy show... Updates on The Gentlemen, Lanterns, Outer Banks, King of the Hill and more... What former hit-maker has three streaming flops in a row... Whether The Mandalorian and Grogu popped in week two... All the flops, bombs and misses... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue. Coming Soon! Oh man, we’re almost caught up! We just have two more issues, then the streaming Ratings Report will be coming out just two weeks after a TV show premieres! Next issue, I’ll be looking at the first two weeks of the NFL Thursday night games on streaming, a huge new spinoff, Reacher’s Neagly on Prime Video, and the latest edition of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix, the return of Slow Horses on Apple and MobLand (quietly one of their biggest shows) on Paramount+, and Dancing with the Stars on both ABC and Disney+. Plus I’ll take a look at animation for adults in 2026. The week after, a ton of movies are coming to streaming: Toy Story 5 on Disney+, Backrooms on HBO Max, Jackass: Best and Last on Paramount+ and The Breadwinner on Netflix, plus a Unabomber film on Netflix and a romcom on Prime Video. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have a show on Apple, along with a game show inspired by Willy Wonka that everyone seems to hate. Long term, some crazy (but hopefully crazy like a fox) IP news. FX ordered a new Sons of Anarchy show from Charlie Hunnam, but it’s not about the biker gang. No, it features the show’s cast playing themselves in a new “meta-thriller”. Huh. And a lot of the cast is coming back. Next, Ryan Gosling is producing a Flintstones movie about a “grown-up Bamm-Bamm Rubble”. Also, huh. This one is in “early development” so we’ll see what happens. Both projects are based on IP, but also seem to have crazy takes on the IP, which I like.
Disney cuts 300 workers, offers executives early retirement
Another round of job cuts comes as CEO Josh D'Amaro aims to consolidate the company's sprawling operations around a "One Disney" theme.
Disney president weighs in on the future of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’: ‘Very challenging’
Disney president Dana Walden weighs in on the future of Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show and late-night television as a whole.
What to stream in October 2026: ‘East of Eden,’ ‘VisionQuest,’ ‘Carrie’
Here's what's coming to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+ and other streaming services in October.
Disney plans restructuring of television business, WSJ reports
Oct 1 (Reuters) - Walt Disney plans a restructuring of its television business that could result in hundreds of layoffs and the consolidation of divisions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
🚨Line-ups ready: stern European test for Real Madrid
Manchester’s Joie Stadium hosts one of the standout fixtures of the second matchday of the Women’s Champions League this Thursday (21:00; Disney+), as Real Madrid visit Manchester City. Pau Quesad...
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek's advice to Josh D'Amaro: avoid politics
Bob Chapek backs current top Disney executive Josh D'Amaro, saying his promotion was "appropriate," and offered some advice.
Entertainment Stocks To Add to Your Watchlist
Warner Bros. Discovery, Walt Disney, Verizon Communications, Take-Two Interactive Software, and Spotify Technology are the five Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, dis
Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Disney, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, People and Reservoir Media
For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – October 1, 2026 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Disney DIS, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. MSGE, People Inc. PPLI and Reservoir Media RSVR.Industry: Media ConglomeratesLink: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2998250/4-media-stocks-that-are-worth…
Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Disney, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, People and Reservoir Media
DIS, MSGE, PPLI and RSVR pursue content and technology strategies as media faces cord-cutting and weaker broadcast TV demand.
What You Can Learn From WEBTOON Entertainment's 39% Drop
WEBTOON Entertainment’s Q1 2026 report looked mixed on the surface, with revenue slightly weaker than expected but earnings per share comfortably ahead of forecasts. Investors who held WEBTOON Entertainment over the past year are down 39.3%, including dividends. If you had invested just after analysts set out sharply different fair values and earnings paths in late 2025, how should you now interpret that decline in light of WEBTOON’s push into Disney-backed content, AI tools, and a growing IP...
Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Disney, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, People and Reservoir Media
DIS, MSGE, PPLI and RSVR pursue content and technology strategies as media faces cord-cutting and weaker broadcast TV demand.
Looking at the Ugly Side of the Paramount-Skydance Merger...And How I’d Fix It
A Message from Our Sponsor Certified Fresh with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, FX’s Adults is an ensemble comedy series about a group of twenty-somethings in New York leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship and family. Don’t sleep on “The Sitcom of the Moment” - Awards Buzz All Episodes now streaming on Hulu on Disney+. Watch The Teaser Trailer... (Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industr(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Before we dive in, I wanted to congratulate Broadcast Now for being the first to report that Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast has been cancelled. (I saw this in a write-up by Kasey Moore of Whats-On-Netflix.) More importantly, I wanted to note that, as of yesterday, none of the other trades had reported the news yet. I have half a guess that eventually one of them will report this. Anyways, it’s time to take a break from my deluge of streaming ratings reports to continue my analysis of the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery (PSWbD) saga. As I noted last week, a lot of times when folks use the (sometimes cliched) “the good, the bad and the ugly” framing for an article, “the ugly” section is just more bad. Or very, very bad. In this case, yeah, I do think it’s ugly. In more than one way. Unfortunately, we’re only going to have time to tackle one of those ways today: the ugly pile of debt to finance this deal. (In a future article, I may cover the entire process for how it went down, which was very, very ugly.) Last issue, I explained why I liked this deal in a vacuum. Unfortunately, “vacuums” don’t exist outside of space. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - The Ugliness of the Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger More than one person sent me a note speculating that the big problem with Paramount Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery is the “Warner Bros.” portion of the deal. In fact, that’s a take I read a lot about Warner Bros., ever since they caught Netflix’s, and then Paramount-Skydance’s, eye. In short, multiple companies (Time, AOL, AT&T, Discovery) have bought and then regretted buying Warner Bros. Since it’s nearing Halloween, you could almost say it’s like the folks think WB is cursed! It’s a haunted studio—like the town of Derry in movie studio form—and whoever takes possession of it will fall into misery! Yet...I just don’t like that story, because it doesn’t explain the “why” behind why those deals fell through. Especially when Warner Bros. has continued to succeed as a TV and film studio in the intervening two decades. Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Everything HBO? Considering it never fully owned a broadcast TV channel, this media company has done pretty well. So what went wrong? Well, in recent years, companies bought Warner Bros. instead of the other, smarter option. Explaining POCD (And Applying It to Mergers & Acquisitions) As I explained last issue, one of my favorite frameworks is the POCD tool for evaluating venture capital investments: People Opportunity Context Deal The bar to invest as a VC is high. (Or I might say “was” since cheap interest rates made life easier last decade.) You review a thousand prospectuses, get pitched by a hundred, and invest in the ten best, with the hopes that one of those ten would pay for the rest. That means every element of a deal needed to pay off: you needed the right people running the companies, who could capitalize on the right opportunity, in the context of an industry that was ripe for disruption. If you could then not overpay, you could make some money in a smart deal. The analogy isn’t perfect here, but close enough. For a merger or acquisition to work, you need the combined company (which is the opportunity) to make more than the price you need to pay (which is the deal). Note: the people and context still matter, but with M&A, it’s a little more straightforward: does the opportunity exceed the cost? And usually with Warner Bros., it hasn’t. If you want to find out the single biggest mistake made by the Warner Bros. suitors over the last few years (and my simple fix) become a paid subscriber. I’ll also touch on who I think Paramount-Skydance could (shockingly) consider buying next, TBD, and more. Sign up here.
Disney Entertainment Television Communications Head Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Exits Company
Bulochnikov-Paul, executive vice president of communications for Disney Entertainment Television, is departing The Walt Disney Company after eight years.
Disney Entertainment TV Comms Chief Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Departing
She has been with the company since 2017.
Disney Comms Executive Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Departing
She has been with the company since 2017.
Disney TV Communications Head Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Exits Disney TV
Disney TV head of communications Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul announced her exit from the company after eight years.
Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Departing As EVP Comms Disney Entertainment TV
Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, EVP Communications, Disney Entertainment Television, is leaving after eight years at Disney.
What the Disney protests over Kimmel taught us about streaming mergers
Boycotting Disney is hard.
Best Entertainment Stocks To Add to Your Watchlist
Warner Bros. Discovery, Walt Disney, Roblox, Verizon Communications, and Spotify Technology are the five Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, distributing, or deliverin
Doc McStuffins exhibit on display at Children’s Museum of Atlanta
Families visiting the Children’s Museum of Atlanta have the chance to step into the world of Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins.
Raven-Symoné says she wears a diaper around the house while menstruating, with a ‘baby T-shirt and a binky’
The Disney Channel alum got candid about liking “outside the box” period products.
The Streamers Tried To Conquer Labor Day…and Whiffed
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) What? Another Streaming Ratings Report already? You betcha. Nielsen has moved up the release of their Streaming Ratings data by two weeks, which means I’ve got two extra issues to get out. But I love this change because it will make this report more timely and easier to publish regularly. This week—with the viewership data for the week of 31-Aug—we’ve got some huge, huge topics to discuss. On the film side, two theatrical films (The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+ and Scary Movie on Paramount+) contend with two non-Netflix straight-to-streaming films (Mayday on Apple TV and The Runner on Prime Video). The streamers went all in to win Labor Day weekend in America. And we have a bunch of TV shows to analyze, both new shows (Netflix’s The Gentleman, Hulu’s Chad Powers, and an Alix Earle reality show) and weekly shows like Reacher, Ted Lasso, House of the Dragon and Lioness. All that, plus nepotism in Hollywood, some eye-popping fantasy football stats, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of August 31st to September 6th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - A Slew of Labor Day Disappointments? A lot of streamers released big new films this week, why? My theory is that the streamers know that four-day weekends can propel streaming films to glory. But if you’ve been reading more over the last two years, you know that big holiday weekends aren’t driving big viewership numbers the way they did post-Covid. And interestingly enough, Netflix didn’t put out a big new film this week. But four other streamers did, trying to take advantage of the holiday with some (not cheap) swings, including… The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+ (a Star Wars film that cost $165 million and made $177 million at the US domestic box office) Mayday on Apple TV (rumored $100 million budget, no theatrical release) The Runner on Prime Video (at least a $40 million budget, but likely $50 to $80 million, no theatrical release). Scary Movie on Paramount+ ($30 million budget, made $108 million domestically). (Paramount+ also released a made-for-streaming film based on the Thundermans IP, and I’ll discuss that later.) So…how’d they do? The Mandalorian and Grogu Leads The Way (But That Isn’t Enough) Let’s start with The Mandalorian and Grogu (which I’ll abbreviate to Mando for most of this article). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… How Mando, Mayday, The Runner and Scary Movie performed on streaming... How the powerhouse weekly released shows (Reacher, Ted Lasso and Lioness) have accumulate a LOT of viewership… How House of the Dragon finished its run… The latest Netflix show to have a sophomore slump… Whether top creators can drive viewers to their shows… Nepotism in Hollywood and the music business... All the flops, bombs and misses for the week… And more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Since Nielsen has accelerated their streaming data release schedule, I’ve got a lot of Streaming Ratings Reports coming your way! Next issue, I’ll be looking at the second season of Peacock’s The Paper, the latest season of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and a very, very expensive Daily Wire fantasy series that’s now on Prime Video. Plus Crew Girl and Dang! on Netflix, a new Tyler Perry film, and one of the biggest bombs of the summer, Supergirl. In the next two issues, I’ll take a look at the return of the NFL to streaming, Toy Story 5 on Disney+, Backrooms on HBO Max, and The Breadwinner on Netflix. On the TV side, we’ve got Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, Dancing with the Stars on Disney+, Apple TV’s Slow Horses, a Reacher spinoff on Prime Video, and Paramount+’s MobLand, a Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey comedy on Apple TV, a sequel to a Cosby Show spinoff on Netflix, The Great British Baking Show, and the Unabomber film. And while doing all that, I want to take a look at adult animated shows, Ride or Die’s cancellation, and Netflix’s summer films. So much great stuff! Long term, two bits of comic book news. The X-Men cast has been announced, and go ahead and color me bull-ish, if not very, very bull-ish on this bit of comic book IP. In weirder news, HBO Max ordered a “true crime” show by Jimmy Olsen about Gorilla Grodd being falsely convicted of murder. I mean, what? I don’t know, let’s see what happens.
Disney cuts hundreds of jobs across multiple departments: report
Disney is laying off hundreds of employees across HR and tech in its latest workforce reduction under new CEO Josh D'Amaro amidst company restructuring.
Entertainment sector stock outlook: Disney leads amid streaming and live-sports tailwinds
Entertainment sector stock outlook: Disney leads amid streaming and live-sports tailwinds
Hurly-Burly entertainment: What to know before you go to Disney’s BoardWalk
Hurly-Burly at Disney’s BoardWalk features family entertainment and nightly live music. See the schedule and what to know before you go.
GTA 6 Won't Spoof Disney World, And That's Too Bad
Rockstar is avoiding the House of Mouse.
Dylan Sprouse and Barbara Palvin welcome baby girl
Former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse and Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin 'took Labor Day literally this year,' she wrote on Instagram.
New on DVD: Set sail on adventure with 'Moana' once more
Disney's latest live-action remake of an animated hit tops the DVD releases for the week of Oct. 6. "Moana": The young princess Moana (Catherine Laga'aia) is chosen by the ocean
Dylan Sprouse reveals name of baby with Barbara Palvin: ‘She’s very lovely’
The Disney Channel alum also revealed which traits his daughter inherited from him.
Christy Carlson Romano recalls trying cocaine for the first time and liking ‘the attention I got’
The Disney Channel alum admits she had been “aggressively clubbing” in her early 20s hoping the paparazzi would notice.
Disney encourages employees to use AI for annual reviews, goal setting
Disney's AI push has extended to annual reviews, as the company encouraged employees to use chatbots to help craft their self-assessments.
Shawn Levy Inks Overall Deal With Disney’s 20th Television
The producer and director, who recently finished the next 'Star Wars' film for Disney, has been based at Netflix since 2017.
Shawn Levy Signs Overall TV Deal at Disney
The producer and director, who recently finished the next 'Star Wars' film for Disney, has been based at Netflix since 2017.
Shawn Levy Moves To Disney’s 20th Television With Overall Deal After Long Tenure At Netflix
Shawn Levy Moves To Disney's 20th Television With Overall Deal After Long Tenure At Netflix
Shawn Levy and 21 Laps Entertainment Sign Overall TV Deal With Disney's 20th Television
The new deal that lured the producer over from Netflix kicks off in 2027
Shawn Levy and 21 Laps Entertainment Sign Overall TV Deal With Disney’s 20th Television
The new deal that lured the producer over from Netflix kicks off in 2027
Time Announced for Livestream Reveal of Disney Believe Itineraries, Entertainment, and More
Disney Cruise Line announced the time that the reveal of their newest cruise ship will take place on Wednesday, October 7.
Disney Unveils Oasis Doc Premiere Date
Disney has unveiled premiere date for Steven Knight’s Oasis documentary on Disney+ and Hulu. The feature will land on October 9, just two weeks after tickets to Oasis’ next round of tour dates were sn...
‘Can’t even’: Man spends $168 on a birthday dinner at Disney Springs. Then the surprise arrives on an empty plate
A $168 birthday dinner should come with a decent ending. However, one man celebrating at Disney Springs got a surprise that nobody at his table seemed prepared for. Even an expensive birthday dinner c...
In brief: '9 to 5' headed back to theaters and more
Pour yourself a cup of ambition and head out to your local movie theater. 9 to 5 is headed back to movie theaters for a special, weeklong run starting on Oct. 9. This will be a newly restored version of the classic satirical workplace comedy starring the late Dolly Parton. Additionally, Disney is set to donate net proceeds from each ticket purchased for the rerelease in the U.S. to the Dollywood Foundation in support of its flagship program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Disney is the parent company of ABC News ...Off Campus star Ella Bright has found her next gig. The actress confirmed she will star opposite Mason Thames in the movie Narcs in a post shared to her Instagram Story. This marks Bright's first major studio feature role. The upcoming coming-of-age comedy will be made for Sony Pictures. While the movie's plot is being kept under wraps, it will serve as the directorial debut of John Phillips, the writer of No Hard Feelings, Good Boys and Dirty Grandpa ... TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Did you miss Evil Dead Burn in theaters? Not to worry. The film is set to make its global streaming debut on HBO Max on Oct. 2. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand and Maude Davey star in the film that was directed by Sébastien Vaniček ...Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.
Jon Watts reportedly set to direct the next 'Star Wars' film
Watts would direct the first of Simon Kinberg's planned Skywalker Saga trilogy, though Disney hasn't greenlit it, THR reports.
Disney on Ice is heading to N.J. for 9 shows. Here are the cheapest tickets we found for each night
Disney on Ice is making it's way to New Jersey end of October, and you don't want to miss out on securing these cheapest tickets that we found
Best Entertainment Stocks Worth Watching
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INSIDE LOOK: A Date Night for The Ages at Hurly-Burly on Disney's Boardwalk
NEW and UNIQUE: Everything you need to know for a perfect date night at the new Hurly-Burly on Disney's Boardwalk!
First Look at Hurly-Burly Nighttime Entertainment at Disney's BoardWalk
During today's preview, we got to see three different bands perform.
Disney star Dove Cameron marries Italian rock star Damiano David
On Thursday, 30-year-old Dove Cameron married 27-year-old Damiano David in a civil ceremony at the town hall in Montalcino, Italy.
Meta VR Glasses Plan Imax Entertainment Push
Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a major VR product this week, with the company turning to Disney, Imax, Dolby, James Cameron and others to help create a cadence of content.
He lives with his parents and loves Jesus. Meet Gen Alpha's new heartthrob.
Malachi Barton opens up about "Coven Academy" and his rise as Disney's latest heartthrob.
Disney+ and Hulu Now Cost More than $20 a Month without Ads
Disney is again raising prices for several streaming subscription tiers, pushing the cost of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans past $20.
International Emmy Nominations: United Kingdom Leads This Year’s Tally; Canada’s ‘Heated Rivalry’ Doesn’t Make the Cut
The United Kingdom led all territories in nominations at this year’s International Emmys, landing 14 nods total — including Disney+’s “A Thousand Blows” in drama and Netflix’s “Man vs. Baby” in comedy...
Disney+ and Hulu raise prices again as Disney steers subscribers toward bundles
Ad-free Disney+ and Hulu now cost $21.49 a month each, up $2.50, while the ad-free bundle rises to just $21.99. Here's what's changing and when.
'Toy Story 5' comes to Disney+
"Toy Story 5," the final season of "Outlander," and crime-comedy "I Love Boosters” head to streaming. (Source: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT, NEON, SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT, CNN via CNN Newsource)
'Toy Story 5' comes to Disney+
"Toy Story 5," the final season of "Outlander," and crime-comedy "I Love Boosters” head to streaming. (Source: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT, NEON, SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT, CNN via CNN Newsource)
'Toy Story 5' comes to Disney+
"Toy Story 5," the final season of "Outlander," and crime-comedy "I Love Boosters” head to streaming. (Source: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT, NEON, SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT, CNN via CNN Newsource)