Know What's Happening in Entertainment
Know What's Happening in Entertainment
Super Mario Galaxy film targets $200M+ opening weekend
Nintendo and Illumination are positioning the upcoming "Super Mario Galaxy" movie to open with more than $200 million domestically over the Easter holiday weekend. The strategy leans on the franchise’s multigenerational appeal and a family‑focused release window, with analysts citing the 2015 "Avengers: Age of Ultron" $191 million opening as a benchmark.
Also developing:
By the numbers: K-Love seeks FCC approval to acquire WFCC
Tenetic, an AI‑driven insights platform, has launched the Tenetic Institute to tackle structural gaps in advertising performance measurement as spend shifts toward retail media, creator channels, and AI‑influenced environments. The initiative will examine the disconnect between spend allocation and measurement, cross‑channel attribution limits, and the impact of AI and privacy changes. It will convene buy‑side and sell‑side stakeholders through videos, webinars, and research to develop practical solutions. Tenetic positions the Institute as an extension of its platform to reshape industry standards for ad effectiveness.
As Sony raises the PS5 price by $100+, I'd like to point people to yesterday's Game File. A rare case of a console-maker on the record about this stuff Nex CEO David Lee told me price was potentially going to go...
Here is the real story, Netflix has raised prices faster than inflation, making it more expensive in real terms. If prices had only kept up with inflation, the standard plan in 2026 would be around $11.86 Instead, it’s $19.99.
Content creator Gary Dworetsky’s Downward expansion for Slay the Spire: The Board Game raised $3.8 million on Kickstarter in just three days, bringing a fan‑made video‑game mod to the tabletop. The expansion lets players act as heroes or dungeon bosses, adds...
Cineverse is debuting a free‑ad‑supported streaming TV (FAST) channel called “Mohr Stories,” featuring comedian Jay Mohr’s podcast and video interviews. The channel launches exclusively on LG Channels, while the audio version remains on the Witz Podcast Network. Mohr’s show has...
Uproxx, once a Warner Music Group asset, has been reacquired by its original co‑founder Jarret Myer and entertainer Will I Am. The media company now operates as a music‑TV network across connected TVs, YouTube and social platforms. It reports 160 million monthly US...
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting introduced the TV Ratings Policy 2026, overhauling audience measurement by dropping landing‑page views from ratings and slashing the net‑worth entry bar for rating agencies from roughly $2.4 million to $0.6 million. The rules mandate expanding the metered‑home...
LEGOLAND Florida Resort is bundling a one‑night hotel stay with a Gold Annual Pass for $230 per person, valid for reservations through April 15, 2026. The pass grants unlimited, no‑blockout access to LEGOLAND Florida Theme Park, Water Park, Peppa Pig Theme Park,...
Warner Bros. Discovery has launched HBO Max in the United Kingdom and Ireland, marking the final step in its European expansion. The move adds a major new player to the region’s streaming market and gives UK and Irish viewers access...
Netflix confirmed a new price increase for its streaming plans, but the exact amount and timing were not provided in the sources. The move adds to a pattern of periodic price adjustments across the industry.
The streaming era has pushed songwriter credits into obscurity, as digital platforms often deliver incomplete metadata and listeners rarely seek out liner notes. Consequently, songwriters receive a disproportionately small share of streaming revenue compared with master owners. Independent publishers and...
Dollywood Parks & Resorts has launched a Monopoly: Dollywood Edition under license from Hasbro, now sold at park retail locations. The board features iconic park attractions, resorts, and the famous Dollywood locomotives, turning the classic game into a themed souvenir....
Studio Ulster, a £72 million (~$90 million) virtual‑production facility in Northern Ireland, announced a major hiring push across technical, stage, commercial, finance and operations teams. The expansion follows the studio’s recent work on the thriller “No Way Off” and the BBC docudrama...
The article argues that radio sales teams often talk too much and fail to ask the right questions, leading to missed opportunities and high turnover. Unlike the automotive sector, radio lacks consistent training and follow‑up, leaving account executives feeling undervalued....
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Frankfurter Buchmesse, Book World Prague and the Moravian Library in Brno, backed by the PPF Foundation, launched the Book‑to‑Screen at KVIFF initiative. The program aims to create a market for film and TV rights...
Artists can apply the classic Power‑Interest Grid, created by Aubrey Mendelow, to navigate the music industry’s gatekeepers. By sorting contacts into key players, sleeping giants, fans and generic audiences, musicians tailor engagement strategies to maximize influence and opportunity. The article...
Vodafone TV will add three BBC Studios thematic channels—BBC Earth, BBC Lifestyle and BBC History—on 1 April, offering them to all customers at no extra cost. The new channels broaden Vodafone's factual and lifestyle portfolio, moving the service further into premium...
Really good talk with soccer superstar Landon Donovan on why the MLS wasn’t mature enough for its rights deal with Apple, the two things that will determine if the World Cup is a success for the USMNT, and a harrowing...
Without having to worry about appearances amid the (now dead) Warner Bros. deal, Netflix feels comfortable raising prices because, in a nutshell, it delivers the best bang for the buck in subscription streaming https://t.co/G6pSB7112d via @variety
Salem Media announced a partnership with The Roku Channel, placing its Salem News Channel directly in Roku’s ad‑supported FAST lineup and Live TV guide. The move follows a recent launch on Amazon Prime Video’s free FAST service and comes as...
New: Meltdown at the new indie distributor Row K, @elmayimbe has the details. President Megan Colligan and marketing chief Ben Carlson are set to exit after just 7 months. Cash problems; strategic re-set seems underway for Chris Woodward and Raj...
Obviously, I have set up alerting for "Podscan" on Podscan itself. And I love how podcasters are starting to mention the platform along with the massive incumbents like Apple. This one just came in. Took 2 years to get to this...
CBS News has reportedly recorded its lowest viewership numbers ever, according to recent ratings data. The decline follows the appointment of columnist Bari Weiss as head of the division, a move critics say has altered editorial tone. The ratings slump...
Netflix Loses First Round in Battle Against EU Rules Requiring Streamers to Fund Local Productions https://t.co/ffkOZXRk6t via @variety
In this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I speak to Felix The, the SVP of Advertising Product and Engineering at Unity. We discuss Unity’s AI-enabled advertising system, Vector. https://t.co/YKAGMtaYaP
Salem Media announced that its flagship talk program, "That KEVIN Show" hosted by Kevin McCullough, will now air on three additional owned‑and‑operated stations—KDXE in Little Rock, KSLR in San Antonio, and KNTH in Houston. Both the Monday‑Friday weekday edition and...
Netflix invested in a lightweight MLB package to see whether it could fully eventize the industry’s most tonnage-friendly sport. So far, the jury’s out. https://t.co/bK2iTNXxhY
Sony is raising the price of its PS5 consoles: • PlayStation 5 – $549.99 to $649.99 • PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99 to $599.99 • PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99 to $899.99 PS5 Digital has now increased by $200 since its launch price...
Major FIFA World Cup sponsors continue to pour millions into logo placements, yet many neglect to craft immersive fan experiences. The article argues that visibility alone fails to generate cultural moments, and that brands that build “worlds” where fans gather...
OpenAI’s $100MM advertising run rate is almost entirely a function of “novelty demand” since they launched a primitive product with little optimization capacity. Relevant questions: 1) How much better does the platform get?, 2) Where does demand settle when they...
AI‑generated music is flooding streaming services, with Deezer reporting 50,000 AI tracks uploaded each day, now representing 34% of all new releases. Artists such as Benedict Cork and Ormella have discovered unauthorized AI versions of their songs, prompting fan confusion...
Riot Games’ Shanghai studio is hiring for an undisclosed project that will extend the League of Legends universe into a Genshin Impact‑style open‑world experience for PC and mobile. The initiative signals a shift toward live‑service, cross‑platform titles, potentially reprioritizing work...
Our partners @YESNetwork are bringing in one of my faves 👇 Larry David Lends Comedic Talents to YES Network Ad Campaign: https://t.co/CfuYanWkcR via @sportico @YEShandler
Budweiser 0.0 has signed partnership deals with five Indian Premier League franchises—Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals—marking its first IPL involvement. The agreement will deliver city‑specific fan activations and limited‑edition merchandise tied to each team. This...
The European Broadcasting Union and allied media groups warned that the Czech government’s proposed overhaul of public‑service funding could jeopardise both the financial stability and editorial independence of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The plan would slash licence‑fee contributions, exempting...
Infinix has teamed up with Call of Duty: Mobile to turn its newly launched NOTE Edge and NOTE 60 series into optimized gaming devices for emerging markets such as Latin America, Brazil, India, and Africa. The partnership delivers 120 FPS performance, JBL‑tuned...
Advocate General Emiliou urged the CJEU to interpret Article 17 of the EU DSM Directive as covering not only the communication right but also the reproduction right of online content‑sharing service providers (OCSSPs). He argued that storing user‑uploaded content creates a...
LVL Zero, an Indian gaming incubator backed by MIXI Global, Nazara Technologies and Chimera VC, received over 240 applications for its first cohort. Almost two‑thirds of the teams were founded in 2024 or later, highlighting a surge of early‑stage studios....
Bitmovin has launched major upgrades to its Player Web X, adding vertical video support and a flexible Load Control API for ad playback. The new architecture, powered by the proprietary WISH ABR algorithm, delivers up to 30% faster startup and...
Ryan Gosling’s "Project Hail Mary" opened to $141 million worldwide and $80.5 million domestically, making it the biggest non‑franchise debut of 2026. The blockbuster’s $200 million budget and rapid climb toward a $100 million domestic milestone have studios weighing a potential sequel that would...
The NFL is reportedly evaluating a rule change that would allow individual teams to sell the broadcast rights to their preseason games to streaming services. While the league has not released specifics, the move could create a new revenue source...
Warner Bros. Discovery announced that shareholders will vote on its proposed merger with Paramount Global and Skydance Media, a transaction underpinned by a $40 billion commitment from Larry Ellison. The vote date was not disclosed, but the move pushes the deal...
Row K Entertainment announced that co‑founder Megan Colligan and chief operating officer Ben Carlson are departing the company. Their exits come as the newly launched independent film distributor grapples with a cash crunch and a reported clash with its founder,...
iWot Studios has teamed up with Initiate Entertainment to broaden the Wheel of Time franchise across games, animation, and television. The partnership will see a new PC and mobile game alongside an existing triple‑AA role‑playing title in development at iWot...
In this episode of Creator Upload, Tubi’s GM of Creator Programs, Rich Bloom, explains the new partnership with TikTok to develop long‑form series starring TikTok creators. The deal leverages TikTok’s Spotlight and marketing tools to promote the shows while Tubi...
Fox Corporation unveiled Fox One, a streaming‑first sports platform designed to capture the roughly 60 million U.S. households that have left the traditional pay‑TV bundle. The service complements, rather than replaces, existing pay‑TV offerings, bundling live sports, news and entertainment while...
Apple released iOS 26.4, adding HLS video support to Apple Podcasts and onboarding four new hosting platforms—Podspace, Riverside, Ausha and Firstory. A March 25 report shows 48 podcasts already streaming HLS video, though full video remains unavailable on macOS and Apple TV. Research from...
Disney+ has inked a content agreement with Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE, bringing a curated slate of the network’s titles to the streaming service a day after their linear broadcast. The lineup includes the thriller series *Rojo sobre blanco* and the...
At Streaming Media Connect 2026, leaders from Fuse Media, Disney, Spaceback and LG outlined the next wave of shoppable CTV innovations. They highlighted homepage tile ads as a low‑funnel performance tool, Roku’s phone‑number‑linked click‑to‑buy flow, and LG’s Shop Time platform that leverages...
Entertainment veterans Mujeebur Rahmansaher, Greg Smith and An De Vooght have launched Unified Production Platform (UPP), a cloud‑native SaaS solution that consolidates casting, payroll, compliance, analytics and workflow management. The platform is AI‑powered and marketed as an open‑market alternative to...
