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Matthew Belloni, Eriq Gardner, Julia Alexander, Kim Masters & Scott Mendelson
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Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
An essential, insider-friendly Hollywood tip sheet from Matthew Belloni, who spent 14 years in the trenches at The Hollywood Reporter and five before that practicing entertainment law. What I’m Hearing also features contributions from veteran Hollywood journalist Kim Masters, media analyst Julia Alexander, entertainment law expert Eriq Gardner, and special box office dispatches from Scott Mendelson.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
Matthew Belloni
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June 10, 2025
Sun Valley Mogul Retreat ’25: The Invite List
No Elon or Shari Redstone, but the annual Allen & Co. gathering of tech and media leaders will include Disney C.E.O. candidates, Apple’s Tim Cook, and three separate Murdochs, in addition to a who’s who of Silicon Valley players.
Matthew Belloni
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June 10, 2025
David Zaslav Has Admitted Defeat
By splitting Warner Bros. Discovery in two, its C.E.O., as well as chief architect John Malone, finally acknowledged that the math never worked on their declining TV business, and the thesis of combining prestige (HBO) and populism (Discovery) was doomed from the start.
Matthew Belloni
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June 6, 2025
The Incredible Shrinking Studio System
Disney’s layoffs and the coming consolidation of Hulu, in addition to cuts at WBD and Paramount, all coalesce around a dreary reality: Less content requires fewer people. The studios avoided these cuts for years. Now, they don’t have any other choice.
Matthew Belloni
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May 30, 2025
The Never-Ending Michael Jackson Movie Saga
International distribution is up in the air as ‘Michael’ faces a legal setback, rewrites, and reshoots. But the real problem is that nobody seems to have any idea what the heck the movie is actually going to be, or even if it’s going to be released as a single movie at all.
Matthew Belloni
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May 23, 2025
Hollywood’s Report Card, According to High School Kids, Pt. 2
A reprisal of my conversation with a group of teen movie watchers about what they like, the stars they watch, and the franchises that move the needle.
Matthew Belloni
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May 16, 2025
The Unofficial ’25 TV Upfront Awards
Hollywood’s annual advertiser cash grab has evolved from an absurd and expensive platform for the TV networks to spin their programming to an even more absurd and expensive showcase for the streamers. It’s a carnival worthy of its own honors and salutations.
Matthew Belloni
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May 9, 2025
‘The Substance’ Studio Eyes $1 Billion Valuation
The art house streaming service and film distributor Mubi is raising $100 million from a consortium led by Sequoia Capital. The financing round will value the company at more than $1 billion—not bad for a niche streamer launched with the mission of connecting cinephiles to classic and auteur-driven films.
Matthew Belloni
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May 9, 2025
What ‘Sinners’ Will Be Worth in 25 Years
Estimating a film’s value in 2050, which is when ownership of the Warner Bros. historical vampire movie reverts to director Ryan Coogler, is both calculable and completely unknowable. And as the ‘28 Days’ zombie franchise shows, the unusual arrangement is not without precedent.
Matthew Belloni
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May 6, 2025
An Opportunity Hidden in Trump’s Movie Tariff Madness
Yes, the White House is already walking back a rant directed at the film and TV industry, and Jon Voight’s press release about how to “make Hollywood great again” was low on specifics. But is the president’s desire to help the business that once revived his career really as awful as it sounds?
Matthew Belloni
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May 1, 2025
Casey Bloys in His “Better Is Better” Era
A candid conversation with the HBO and Max content chief about the evolution of the prestige brand in the Zaslav era, why he’s no longer competing with Netflix, and the mandate now that he’s not programming a “something for everybody” service.