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Warner Bros. Rejects Paramount’s Takeover Bid For Second Time

“Warner Bros. Discovery’s leadership has repeatedly rebuffed Skydance-owned Paramount’s overtures — and urged shareholders just weeks ago to support selling its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile bid for the entire company.” - AP

Ultimately, NPR Will Be Okay, Says Ari Shapiro

“While NPR may be staring down a tough couple of years ahead, I think public radio is better positioned in the long run than most American news organizations right now.” - Substack

Corporation For Public Broadcasting Has Officially Dissolved

“The nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations … announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation.” - The Guardian

North American Movie Box Office Finished 2025 Slightly Up

Movie theaters in the United States and Canada sold an estimated $8.9 billion in tickets in 2025, a 2 percent increase compared with a year earlier. - The New York Times

Hollywood Jobs Are Just… Disappearing

It's not like the frog boiling in the water. It's a dramatic drop-off. It happened very suddenly. Broadly speaking, in LA, if you're involved in the entertainment industry, this has been a very rough two years. Very, very rough. - The Wall Street Journal

Critics Choice Winners Make It Seem Like It’s The Year For One Battle After Another

So, did everyone in Hollywood simply forget Sinners? (No: Ryan Coogler won for Best Original Screenplay.) - The New York Times

At The Palm Springs Film Festival, The Message Is Simple

Leonardo DiCaprio (not present for the most global military of reasons) said via a prerecorded speech, “Movies still matter, not content, but cinema. Stories made by people meant to be shared in a dark room in a communal experience.” - Seattle Times (AP)

You’ve Watched The Oscar Bait, And Now It’s Time For Something Else

Drum roll … for the worst movies of 2025. - Washington Post (Archive Today)

The Upside Down Experience Of Seeing Stranger Things At An Otherwise Dead Mall

 “I saw entire families, many in pajamas. Friends young and old. Lots of couples. There were Hellfire Club T-shirts, Demogorgon crowns and popcorn buckets (purchased in advance, from Target). Everyone was taking group selfies, posting photos or Instagram Reels of how crowded the concession area was.” - The Guardian (UK)

Some Actors Become Super Directors

Others, not so much. Just take a look at Kate Winslet’s debut. - Salon

Australian Teens And Their Parents Wonder If This Yearslong TV Project Will Ever Be Released

“Future Fixers was billed as a glossy, family-friendly reality series. ... The show was part Shark Tank, part Lego Masters, and explicitly designed to put girls in tech on prime‑time television.” Then the host’s past caught up with him. - Sydney Morning Herald (Archive Today)

Jessie Buckley Says It Was A Bit Overwhelming To Be Playing Agnes In Hamnet

“I felt untethered. I didn't know where to go, you know, and then I realised that's incredibly human to be lost, and that is absolutely Agnes' story to be lost.” - BBC

Sorry, But This Sounds Creepy: How AI Might Put You In The Movie You’re Watching

Producer Charlie Brooker proposes scanning the faces of cinemagoers as they enter the theater and then using AI to cast them “randomly” in the actual movie. - Deadline

AMC Declares Its Live Event With Netflix A Huge Success

In addition to the countless millions of people who will enjoy Stranger Things on the Netflix streaming platform, in just two days, more than 753,000 Stranger Things fans flocked to an AMC Theatre to personally join in the celebration. - Deadline

Rightist Politicians Instigate Parliamentary Inquiry On Impartiality Of France’s National Broadcaster

“The UDR party, an ally of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, set up the inquiry amid far-right claims that public TV and radio has a bias against them. Le Pen … has said ‘there is a clear problem with neutrality in public service broadcasting’ and that she would like to privatise it.” - The Guardian

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