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
Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo, its cheapest MacBook yet, aimed at students and first‑time buyers, positioning the company against Chromebooks and low‑end Windows laptops. Simultaneously, Apple secured exclusive U.S. streaming rights for Formula 1 on Apple TV, adding premium sports content to its services portfolio. Both moves signal a dual strategy: expanding the hardware base with lower‑cost devices while deepening the ecosystem through high‑profile media. The announcements arrive as Apple’s stock trades near fair value, with short‑term sentiment modestly negative.
The Media Ratings Council (MRC) has raised concerns about Nielsen’s National Big Data + Panel TV measurement after detecting a more than 10% decline in 25‑54‑year‑old audience impressions in the first half of 2025. MRC identified four priority areas –...
Grand Slam Track’s Chapter 11 plan proposes paying athletes a $6 million boost while offering unsecured vendors a combined $200,000 on the $13 million they are owed. A committee of three vendors filed a court motion accusing the league of incompetence, self‑dealing, and...
Reservoir Media (NASDAQ:RSVR) is at the center of a heated takeover battle, with activist investor Irenic Capital proposing a $10‑$11 per‑share offer and a joint proposal from Wesbild and Richmond Hill valuing the stock at $10.50 while controlling roughly 64%...
Last month @AppMagicRocks released its annual mobile market report. Three things stood out. AI apps like ChatGPT tripled their market to $3 billion. Mobile gaming barely grew at all, which explains why Netflix is getting out. And "Drama Slop" apps...
Frequency and Flightpath announced a strategic partnership that integrates Flightpath’s predictive analytics with Frequency’s Premium Publisher Network marketplace. The combined solution gives podcast publishers real‑time inventory insights, enabling coordinated cross‑network sales and reducing unsold ad slots. By embedding forecasting directly...
Indie studio Brimstone’s “Super Battle Golf” has taken the chaotic multiplayer niche by storm, selling over 400,000 copies in its debut week. The game blends whimsical golf mechanics with combat tools such as landmines, explosive balls, and orbital strikes, supporting...
Hyunjin, a vocalist and dancer from K‑pop group Stray Kids, has been appointed as GUESS’s global brand ambassador. The partnership was unveiled on March 6 with a teaser that hid his face, followed by a full‑length Instagram campaign showcasing modern‑heritage denim...
French esports organization Team Vitality announced its withdrawal from StarCraft II after a two‑year stint that began in 2024. The roster, featuring Korean stars Maru, Ryung and Zoun, delivered highlights such as Maru’s DreamHack Dallas victory and a second‑place finish at...
Universal Music Group reported 9% year‑over‑year growth, highlighting AI partnerships and the integration of its Downtown Music acquisition. Create Music Group closed a $450 million financing round, valuing the company at $2.2 billion. Warner Music Group’s CEO framed AI as a new...
Major media publishers such as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and The Economist are launching high‑priced C‑suite membership programs that combine exclusive events, networking, and concierge services. These offerings aim to address CEOs' isolation and rapid disruption from geopolitics and...
A Warren County, New Jersey AM radio station is set to become wholly owned by Lawrence J. Tighe Jr. after an asset sale agreement was filed with the FCC. The transaction ends the long‑standing partnership with Norman Worth. Concurrently, the...
The Next TMT Talks panel examined how connected‑TV operating systems have become the primary gateway for streaming content, advertising, and data collection. Panelists from The Trade Desk’s Ventura TVOS, Whale TV, and ViewLift discussed their strategies to challenge incumbent platforms and capture...
Midco Sports, a 95‑year‑old Upper Midwest technology firm, has turned its regional sports network into a national‑minded streaming platform, Midco Sports Plus, now reaching viewers in nine U.S. states. A new partnership with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) brings...
UK‑based indie publisher Sync Music Global has entered a worldwide sub‑publishing and administration agreement with Kobalt. The deal gives Kobalt responsibility for global administration of Sync’s catalog and includes a joint venture to co‑sign writers and accelerate market expansion. Sync’s...
US hip‑hop duo $uicideboy$ faces a lawsuit in the UK after allegedly sampling composer Mica Levi’s BAFTA‑nominated score for the film Under the Skin without permission. The disputed track, “What the Fuck is Happening,” contains a 1‑minute‑23‑second excerpt of Levi’s...
Lucy Dickins is exiting WME after reshaping its contemporary music division in both the UK and US. During her tenure she revitalized the London office, led the Los Angeles team through the COVID‑19 disruption, and secured high‑profile signings such as...
Live sports broadcasters are moving core production to cloud workflows, replacing on‑site hardware with scalable, remote infrastructure. The shift reduces capital expense, improves agility, and supports the growing demand for multi‑language, regional, and platform‑specific feeds. Modern encoding, bandwidth, and latency...
SAG‑AFTRA president Sean Astin entered his term amid a storm of high‑profile disputes, from an FCC clash over Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue to the rise of synthetic performers and a retreat by OpenAI on a controversial opt‑out request. As the union...
A Class B AM station serving the Minneapolis‑St. Paul market, known for its progressive talk lineup featuring hosts like Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartmann, has been sold by owner Chad Larson. The station, operating at 1 kW daytime and 3 kW nighttime...
Salem Media announced its Salem News Channel is now available on Amazon Prime Video. The addition places the channel within Prime Video’s growing free ad‑supported streaming TV (FAST) portfolio. Salem’s VP Cary Pahigian highlighted the move as a way to...
Ratings Roundup shows a surge in live sports viewership across major leagues. ESPN’s MLB spring‑training broadcast between the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers attracted 468 K average viewers, a 54 % increase over last year and the most‑watched spring‑training game in a...
![[Industry News] Facepunch Studios, Developers of Rust, Sponsor DreamHack Birmingham](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/Facepunch-x-Dreamhack-2026.png)
Facepunch Studios, the creator of Rust and Garry’s Mod, announced it will sponsor DreamHack Birmingham from March 27‑29. The company will host a modest booth where attendees can try its new game‑creation platform s&box and preview Rust Mobile. COO Alistair...
Sony is reversing its recent experiment with PC ports, scrapping plans for upcoming first‑party titles like Ghost of Yotei. The move follows disappointing sales – only about 6% of God of War Ragnarök players were on PC – and a failure...
Podtrac’s February 2026 U.S. podcast ranker shows no movement in the top five shows, confirming a steady hierarchy based on unique monthly downloads. The leading slots remain occupied by NPR’s “NPR News Now,” The New York Times’ “The Daily,” NPR’s “Up...
iHeartMedia announced that “The Breakfast Club” achieved its highest‑ever ratings in New York City. The morning show, produced at WWPR‑FM “Power 105.1” and syndicated nationally through Premiere Networks, topped Nielsen’s PPM survey in January for both the 18‑49 and 25‑54 demographics. It...
BeatBread, the finance platform for independent musicians, announced three senior hires: Christine Barnum as head of financial operations, Michael Poole as chief financial officer, and Jameson Toole as a board advisor on AI and machine learning. Barnum arrives from CD...
Pocket Gamer Connects has opened ticket sales for its Shanghai summit on July 29, 2026, positioning the event as a business‑focused gateway ahead of ChinaJoy. The conference will gather global publishers, investors, developers and platform partners for curated meetings, expert...
At Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco, Tebex VP Liam Wiltshire warned that studios are still treating platform stores as the sole channel for player acquisition, a practice he says hampers long‑term growth. He highlighted the rise of direct‑to‑consumer (D2C) strategies...
A coalition called Fix The Tix, including NIVA and NITO, urged Congress to strengthen the TICKET Act to curb predatory secondary‑market practices and scalping bots. StubHub disclosed a $1.9 billion net loss for 2025 despite a 6% rise in gross merchandise...
The Council of Europe has opened two 2026 calls under its Pilot Programme for Series Co‑productions, allocating roughly €2.1 million to support high‑quality scripted fiction, animation, or documentary series that involve cross‑border collaboration. Awards range from €150,000 to €300,000 and can...
Creator.co unveiled London, an AI‑powered influencer marketing agent built directly into its platform. The tool automates three core execution steps—brief generation, creator matching, and personalized outreach—using a database of over 400 million influencer profiles and a community of 270 k creators. By...
"Nobody wakes up in the morning and goes, 'Oh, let me go see what's on @paramountplus' the way they check out what's on @YouTube or what's on @netflix," Greenfield said. "I think he is, directionally, spot-on," said media analyst Rich Greenfield...
Did you know Google is paying Epic Games' legal fees in this antitrust settlement? https://t.co/Qwy0yMFPj1
The BBC warned that declining licence‑fee revenue and rising streaming competition threaten its funding model, and proposed opening iPlayer to other public‑service broadcasters while keeping BBC content ad‑free. Meanwhile, UK digital video advertising grew 20 % to £9.3 billion, now accounting for...
The layoff math looks scary at the combined WarnerMount studio. Or does it? Crunching the numbers with the company's top dealmaker. ⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/W35ws7KiGx
Radial Entertainment Shops for Content Libraries as Pluto TV and Paramount Alum Jeff Shultz Takes Over as CEO https://t.co/sLDEtVhxNj via @variety
Lockwood Publishing announced that its flagship social metaverse Avakin Life has surpassed 500 million lifetime downloads, marking a 12‑year run of steady growth. The platform now supports 1.6 million monthly active players and averaged 220 000 daily active users in 2025. Avakin Life’s...
Discounting is NOT a growth strategy @DisneyPlus and @hulu are starved for fresh content $DIS https://t.co/gVtGO3UCZZ
At the 2026 NAB Show, Tedial will showcase its AI‑driven media asset management platform, highlighting new agentic AI capabilities integrated via the Model Context Protocol. The solution blends pervasive AI, composable architecture, and NoCode workflow design to boost operational efficiency...
The Kitchen, a Food Network staple since 2014, was cancelled in October 2025 after 490 episodes and 14 specials. Hosts Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel, Jeff Mauro and Geoffrey Zakarian announced a surprise special slated for later this month. The...
X has introduced Creator Subscriptions 2.0, adding Exclusive Threads that let creators lock parts of a conversation behind a paywall. The update streamlines the subscription setup to two steps and places subscriber‑only content directly in the creator’s main feed. A new...
'We expect HBO Max to essentially be shut down at the end of 2027 ' -- MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman in a research note today...
Byron Allen Acquires 10.7% Stake in Starz From Steve Mnuchin’s Investment Firm for $25 Million https://t.co/uuDK84OBQW via @variety
Disney will retire the standalone Hulu app by 2026, moving its on‑demand library into Disney+. Hulu + Live TV will stay as a separate subscription but its future home is unclear, with options including the Disney+ app or the merged Fubo platform....
The NBA is in advanced talks with YouTube TV, Amazon, ESPN and DAZN to launch a centralized streaming hub for local team broadcasts, potentially as early as the 2026‑27 season. The effort gained urgency after Main Street Sports Group collapsed,...
Netflix announced the acquisition of InterPositive, Ben Affleck's AI‑focused filmmaking‑technology firm, to bolster its in‑house production capabilities. The deal underscores Netflix's commitment to integrating generative AI tools that enhance, rather than replace, creative talent. Meanwhile, German media conglomerate Axel Springer...
Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort has completed the first controlled swing of its new £8.72 million pendulum attraction, Aviktas. The 138‑ft tall, 40‑seat gyro‑swing is currently undergoing testing and is slated for a spring 2026 debut, ahead of the resort’s March season...
Lee Choong Yan announced his resignation as President and Executive Director of Genting Malaysia, ending a tenure that oversaw the company's recent diversification and debt‑refinancing efforts. The board has not yet named a successor, prompting speculation about the strategic direction...
Disney announced that its long‑running Muppet*Vision 3D attraction, which closed at Hollywood Studios, will be revived as a virtual‑reality experience for Apple Vision Pro and other headsets. The company filmed the show ahead of the closure to create a digital...
