April 18, 2026
At the peak of the streaming arms race, the major platforms were collectively releasing more original scripted television than the entire broadcast and cable industry produced a decade earlier. The volume was staggering by any historical measure, and the business rationale was simple: in a subscription economy, the cost of losing a customer is far
READ MOREA familiar story about the modern film industry goes like this: blockbusters conquered theatrical distribution, streaming swallowed prestige television, and the grown-up dramas in the middle — the $20–$50 million character pieces that used to fill autumn release slates — essentially disappeared. The story is mostly true. But in the past few years the pattern
READ MOREA24 occupies an unusual position in contemporary film. Its box-office results, measured by raw ticket sales, are smaller than those of any of the major studios. And yet its cultural footprint — the memes, the merchandise, the loyalty of its audience — rivals brands many times its size. The explanation says something useful about how
READ MOREHeadlines about the collapse of superhero cinema have become a minor genre unto themselves. The numbers behind the headlines tell a more specific story. The category isn’t disappearing — it’s correcting from an unsustainably expanded peak back toward something closer to a normal blockbuster rhythm. At its height, the Marvel Cinematic Universe released three or
READ MOREReality television was supposed to fade with the rise of prestige drama. Instead it has entered a second golden age, fueled by streaming demand for cheap, addictive content. The economics behind the resurgence are stranger than they look. Reality shows cost a fraction of scripted equivalents. A dating competition or a house-based social experiment can
READ MOREThe 2023 writers’ strike was long, expensive, and ended with a contract that contained real wins. A year and change later, it’s worth asking what practical things have actually changed about how television and film get made — and what hasn’t. The clearest changes involve minimum staffing on writers’ rooms, residuals on streaming productions, and
READ MOREFor most of recorded music’s commercial history, albums were the product and tours were the promotion. That relationship has quietly flipped. The top tours of the past few years have generated gross revenues that surpass the lifetime earnings of most legendary albums. The live show has become the primary economic engine of a modern music
READ MOREVinyl sales have been climbing for more than a decade. Specialty Blu-ray labels are reporting their best years in memory. Cassette sales, against every prediction, have returned as a small but real niche. The physical media revival is a real trend, even if it’s easy to overstate. What’s more interesting is why it’s happening now.
READ MOREThe early podcasting boom was defined by two people and a microphone. The current landscape looks very different. Top shows are produced with scripted-television budgets, hosted by names who migrated over from traditional media, and acquired or distributed by the same companies that finance film and television. Podcasting has become its own Hollywood adjacent industry.
READ MOREFor most of the modern era, the career of a serious screen actor followed a familiar shape: move between films as the central work, take occasional television roles as a detour, and avoid the long-running series commitment that could lock an identity in place. The limited series has quietly rewritten that script, and the effect
READ MORE