The Hollywood Stock Market: Johnny Depp, Curry Barker, Spielberg, MrBeast, and More!

The Town is presented by FanDuel. Have you heard the news, FanDuel is now available everywhere. And when we say everywhere, we mean everywhere. Tallahassee, Florida, El Paso, Texas, Athens, Georgia, Madison, Wisconsin, Birmingham, Alabama. All right, you get the picture. Wherever you're watching, whatever game you're fired up for, FanDuel is there to bring you closer to the action. So make your picks and play wherever the games take you. Download the FanDuel app to get started. Age and location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. See FanDuel.com for eligibility, gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber. It is Monday, October 5th. Today, it's a live episode coming from the Bloomberg Screen Time Conference in Hollywood last Thursday. You're not familiar. That's Lucas Shaw's big event. They did a really nice job with it again. The lineup was a who's who of people in the town universe. You can go to the Bloomberg feeds to watch some of it, Congrats to Lucas and the Bloomberg team, especially on the food. I had some great tacos. As for our part, we did the Hollywood Stock Exchange. Who or what will we buy low, sell high, or maybe even hold some great picks this year and questions from the audience. So let's get right to it. The 2026 Hollywood Stock Exchange live from Screen Time from the Ringer and Puck on that Bellany and this is the town. Thank you, everyone. Thanks for coming. This is what? Our third year doing this? Fourth year. We've done it every year. Yeah. I dress down this year. You started the podcast when, 22 or 23? 22. So you're your pot as a year older than this event? Yes. We, I dress down this year. I felt like his corporate lawyer, Uncle, last year. I've been called a referee on the internet. That's OK. And we will not be revisiting our picks from last year. We're going to do some buys and some sells. Again, this year, if you recall from previous years, we pick things that we would buy within the Hollywood entertainment ecosystem, things that we would sell. And the goal, of course, is you buy low and you sell high. So it could be some big names that we're selling or it could be some people who are down low that we're buying. And Matt has not followed the rules of this game the last couple of years. Such as last year when he picked Josh Demaro, buying low, even though Josh was the consensus next CEO of Disney. Yes. So I've learned the reddit. I've since learned the rules. I've gone to basic business school. And although last year, you bought Ed Sheeran, so I don't think you should be talking. There's a bad one. And you also bought the rock. I would double down on that. Well, we're not going to get ahead of ourselves. Really after two bombs in a row, all right, we'll get into this. We'll get into this. All right. So three of each, maybe four of we have time, but I doubt we will. I'm going to give you the first. Would you like to start with a buy or a sell? I'll start with a sell because I think sells are more fun, even though I have more buys. I am selling high on the World Cup. Who? The World Cup. Oh, the World Cup. I think it's Adam World Cup. The most famous sporting event in the world. Yes. Wow. Because-- Oh, the time change. Yes. There is-- this year's World Cup was so popular in the U.S. I'm not like selling the World Cup as a concept. I'm not an idiot. It's the most popular sporting event in the world. But this year's World Cup did so well that they are going to use that to get a crazy price increase for the next two World Cup. So that's good for them. Good for them. Bad for everybody who does that. But bad for the buyer. Because the ratings are going to go way down because the matches are not in the U.S. So sell the buyers. Don't sell the World Cup for extorting more money out of the buyers. What? I don't know if the buyers are. So I have to sell. I'm selling the-- they haven't sold it yet. So I'm giving these media companies free advice right now. You don't have to listen. Yeah. Don't overpay for World Cup. Right. Fox snuck in. Got a great deal. And don't-- don't make the mistake of saying a World Cup in the Middle East or a World Cup in-- in Morocco and Spain is going to be as big as a World Cup in the U.S. Yes. That is good advice. Although I am questioning why getting more money makes you a loser. But whatever. Don't worry. I'll have good selling. I'm sure I'll have problematic choices as well. I'm going to start with a sell. I'm going to sell Curry Barker, the filmmaker. The biggest breakout hit of the year. He's riding high. Obsession grows 500 million worldwide. If a budget of a million or less, Universal just dated his next movie as if it were an Avengers movie. It's opening summer in the beginning of May. The next movie-- They have the next movie after that, too. They have his next two movies. They do. He's got anything but ghosts. He's in that one. So we're going to get to see Curry Barker directing himself. And I just feel like-- I don't want to call this movie a fluke, but it's very difficult to replicate the magic on something that is a complete out of nowhere and we'll see. But I'm going to-- judging by how high he is right now, I'm selling him. So you-- this is the only pick that we have that I knew was coming because when we were talking about doing this on Monday, Matt staked this one and I was jealous of it because I would have taken it, too. I think he's high in his own supply and that's always very dangerous for him. I know. He thinks he's getting a best director nomination for this. I don't see it happening, but we'll see. But the good news for him is that he's working in a genre where the next movie doesn't have to gross $500 million. No, of course not. If it grosses $100 million, if it grosses $150 million, it's a win for Universal. So you think that he will have a long and fortuitous career? Don't know. Would you pick him or would you pick Cain Parsons? I know you like Cain Parsons because Cain did your show in Curry Barker. He did, but that's the only reason. He did the show and I thought he was impressive when he was on the show. But I have-- I think by a big agent and the agent actually said no, sell Cain Parsons because he is doing one thing. He's doing this backroom's phenomenon. We have not seen whether he can do other things. At least Curry Barker has done other things online. I disagree. I think that Cain Parsons has a sensibility that will translate into the future, but I see the point. I don't know how to pick between the two of them. I think there are arguments to be made for both sides. Yes. I took something that had a big following and it's very specific and we have to see if he's capable of doing something different. Most people who saw obsession felt like Curry Barker could make a totally different type of movie if he wanted to and it'd be fine. But I'm judging purely based off of like the fashion. He just seems like someone who's gotten a little too full of himself of his success, which is, I guess-- I would be too. Honestly. I'd be inseparable. Okay. Even more inseparable. So you're going to go to your first buy. Do I want to buy low on music or a person? You did a person. People are more fun. So I'll start with a person. I am going to buy low on Alex Cooper. Okay. Apologies to my colleague, Ashley Carman, who's here, who has written a lot of-- The podcaster. Yes. You guys have written extensively about her troubles. I'm your terrible husband. Yes. And I think that there are very real problems with that company. And I'm not necessarily saying I would invest in Unwell, although people we both know have done that. But she, as a personality, I think, is very compelling, has a loyal following. She's going to have a deal come up next year, or I think she's getting a new deal next year that will probably be the biggest deal she's ever had. Okay. I mean, I disagree. Do you see her? Do you see her as someone who can select talent and build a business with people other than herself? Correct. I think this is the-- She is not Oprah. No. And a connection where the third or fifth person that Alex Cooper recommends is going to be a star. Well, that's not entirely true, because she did the problem is she did that with Alex Earl, and then they fought. Okay. But that's my point. She has struggled to build a real business around herself. She would obviously cripple with that. I think you're right that they're concerned. But I think her as someone who has talent, like if I were an agent and I wanted a client, she would be near the top of my list of podcasters and digital talent before I think is going to have a long career. Okay. And the husband is a real problem. People hate that guy. People do not like Matt Kaplan. That is true. Okay. All right. So I'm going to go from my first buy of the afternoon. I'm going to buy Johnny Depp. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know he's problematic. You just gave me all this stuff for Alex Cooper, can't develop in town or husband's problematic. And you picked Johnny fucking day. Okay. Like the argument, Ebenezer, his Christmas Carol movie that's coming out his first studio movie since all the controversy, basically being banished from Hollywood for a decade. The testing on that movie is not just good for the movie. The testing, and I've seen the testing. It's very good for him personally on all the lists that I look at, the Q scores, the NRG data, the com score data that looks at what stars are considered theatrical. He is still on that list. He'll remember him from the '90s and 2000s as a movie star. And as we know, those movie stars that were well marketed in our global names, they still matter. I do think Ebenezer will perform, and he's got this other movie day drinker that's coming out after it, which I've heard is also good. Importantly, women, which you would think would have problems with him based on his personal behavior, women scored higher with him than men. So I am, you know, I'm not personally endorsing this person. But I think he may be back. Did I miss the part where range media bought a piece in your podcast? we have yet to announce that. I didn't even remember that. No, they were pissed at me when I reported on that. They don't want that expectations set high. Look, he's a big star. Would I be shocked if he were able to come back because we have welcomed back all sorts of people who've done despicable things? No, but I'm a wait-in-f-- - By the way, he won the definitely lost. - I should say, allegedly did despicable things. - Yes, yes. - He's me, don't sue me. But not defending the behavior at all. But I do think people, for certain types of characters and certain types of stars, you know, he's never really been himself. You've never sold himself as a movie star. He always plays weirdo characters. So it has kind of given him a path to come back and be an older guy who doesn't look great and who has all sorts of personal baggage and turn that into characters that people may show up for. - So you bought Lo on Louis K. last year. You're buying Lo and Johnny Depp this year. Are you going for a pedophile next? - I am not. No, thank you. But let's remember, Netflix did a big deal with Louis K. After I bought him Lo. So I think I'm a little bit vindicated on that one. - Okay, give me another-- - I'll do a buy. - Are you gonna do a buy? - I'll do a buy, 'cause I have a couple more rides. I'm gonna do a music one. I have two music ones. Actually, I will pick one that is a retort to Johnny Depp, we'll do that. Lily Aparsa, she is the president of Capital Records. - Okay. - Doing three's and one. She is the executive who signed both Sianis Spiro and Adela. If you look at the pop charts right now, Adela has two of the three biggest songs in the world on Spotify. I am, but I'm mostly picking her. Yes, a lot of people have success. Because if you look at the music industry right now, they just announced another change at Warner Chappell. There is one woman in a position of power across the entire music industry right now, which is Jodie Gerson at Universal Music Publishing. They just, Sylvia Roan just left Epic. They just made changes at Warner Chappell for carry on Marshall left. And so you basically have at the three major music companies, one woman who's running any major label group. So I would like to, buying low, it feels a little weird, but someone who is a president of a label like that who's doing really well should get promoted to run something. 'Cause I don't know what's going on in the music business where it's like it's 1975. I agree with you and I happen to be at the, I happen to be at the poll lounge yesterday where a very prominent music industry person came up to me and as you know, I cover the music industry less than you do, I said, what's going on in music? And she said, well, all the women are getting fired. Yes. And I was like, interesting. Now that you think about it, yeah. And I, so that's a good pick. Yeah, it's just been a steady thing where even like the next ones that all, like all three major music companies are run by guys, the next level down is all guys. So anyways, it's fucking crazy. Okay. For my next buy, I'm going to do DreamWorks Animation. Are they even? Because of those. They just had a gigantic amount. Forgotten Island, massive flop, like embarrassing flop. However, if you look at their 20th century next year, they have a Shrek 5. Not only that, they have the Coco Mellon movie that they are making. Well, we'll see if kids that are zombified from Coco Mellon will be zombified in front of a movie screen for Coco Mellon. But I think that's a pretty big piece of IP and they're attached to the movie. They also have an original later in 2027, Nico Bravo based on a book. And then in '28, they have the donkey spin-off with Eddie Murphy. So presuming that Shrek 5 works, I think that they've got like two big tent poles the next two years. And then some other stuff that could work well. So even though they are low, I'm going with the bi-low thing. They are pretty low right now. I think that Margie Cohn and that group, they are poised for a nice run. I guess what I'd say there is that would be a little bit like buying Pixar after they had one bad movie. DreamWorks Animation has been, if you were to rank or say the most consistent producers of hit animated movies, it would be Pixar, Illumination, and DreamWorks Animation. But they're usually third in that conversation, right? They don't have, yes, I'd say in the last five to seven years, they have not had as many huge hits as the other two. And we're not even talking about Disney Animation. They're probably fourth in that conversation. I was doing Disney Pixar as one. But you're right, if I'm going to separate Illumination and DreamWorks, we should separate Disney Pixar. Because they have Frozen 3 next year, which is probably going to be big. Yeah, where do you want to do the box office? We're not doing box office right now. Yeah, sure. I will. Okay. And the other thing is that Forgotten Island is actually good. The reviews on it were really good. I don't know what happened with the marketing, but it's not like they're making bad product. That's the thing. All right, give me your next one. It pains me to say it, but I think I'm going to sell Mr. Beast. Oh, if we're just talking about value, he's the biggest YouTube star in the world. I don't think he's disappearing anytime soon, but they have raised money at a valuation that I think they are finding very hard to sustain and exceed. So they've raised money at more than $5 billion. They're trying to do a lot of different businesses at the same time. They're making a lot of noise about going public. I think they wanted to go public this year. It has not happened. You know, they've made some changes, I think, with the chocolate business, which has sort of been there, main source of profitability and engine. I don't think that's going as well as it was a little bit ago. Just all of the things collectively I'm hearing are, I think that business is on shakeier footing than it's been in a little while, relative to the valuation, right? We're not talking about how it's going out of business. It's not going out of business. I don't think Mr. Beast is going to get, you know, he's going to disappear. Is there CEO recently? Or that's dude perfect. Dude perfect CEO left. No. There, Mr. Beast Company is run by this guy Jeff Hasenbold, who comes from Silicon Valley, somewhat of a controversial figure. And I just think he's kind of right at that peak, and I don't know that it can keep going up. I think there is a shelf life on a lot of this digital talent, and we'll see where the company goes from here. But that's, I've wondered about that, like whether Mr. Beast is still going to be cool and relevant when he's older. Like, do you want to see Mr. Beast doing this stuff in his 40s? I don't know. And maybe he can transition into being just a creator, not being on camera, and then I'll look really stupid 10 years from now. Maybe. Yeah. But I don't know. The audience may be fickle about that. All right. Speaking of Sacred Cows, I'm going to sell Steven Spielberg. Yeah. That's almost-- I know. The audible gas. It's been an amazing run, perhaps the best run of all time. He is the apple of filmmakers. Like, was there at the beginning, and has been there, and has never really left. But if you look, and disclosure day, I had high hopes. This was like his return to commercial filmmaking. They put it in June, and it grossed 240 percent. It was a disaster, yeah. Not a disaster. OK, it was a disappointment. It was-- they will lose money on it in theaters. But look, I totally agree. I happen-- not to tease, but I have a couple of Spielberg-related questions for Donald Langley later today. Because I-- yeah, it's so evident that he is not a name that gets people to go to theater anymore. Yeah, it was sad for a Gen X to like myself. I mean, I remember sad. Yeah, I remember having a conversation with someone from Universal at the top of the year, and they were saying they needed to find a way to reintroduce him to people under 35, under 40, whatever it may be. And that's just-- it's sort of an impossible task. And especially if you are making-- like, give Adam Sandler all the shit in the world for the types of movies that he makes, if you want. But he has managed to say, OK, like, people who are 15, you're going to keep loving me. Steven Spielberg puts his daughter in his movies. Steven Spielberg wants to make movies for people who are 20 in a lot of ways, but his audience is 60. Yeah. Well, yeah, I'm not 60. But yes, OK. Well, I get-- and he's talking about doing a Western next. Like, er-- Like, what is-- What is the Universal back-sat? Yes, well, again, not the-- They are just step on the question. But what is the biggest budget you would give Steven Spielberg for a movie? Great question. And she will not answer it. I guarantee you she will not answer it. But she will say, we love him, and listen, the guy's made more money than anyone in Hollywood history. They're still paying him on the park. So it has been a fantastic run. But I think he'll gravitate more towards smaller things and not do the sort of wannabe blockbuster stuff. I have, like, three or four more in different categories. Do we want to take a couple of these? Or do you want to save them for the end? Let's take one. I like that. Matthew Rees, by or sell. By. By. I mean, he's riding pretty high right now. But I mean, interesting thing about Matthew Rees is that, yes, he won the two top MEs this year. Do we think that one of the people from anonymous content here is the person who submit that question? No, the question would have been Matthew Rees. By or super by. But he is so well-liked. He did a round of press during phase two of the Emmy voting, and it absolutely put him over the top. Because people like him, and they respect him, and they want to see-- And they like the couple. They like the couple. Yeah. They haven't paid off for her at the MEs yet. No, but it was great for him. And is he a movie star? Or is he just a great-- No, he's not a movie star. I don't even think he's a TV star in the sense that if he's in the show, millions of people will watch it. Because it's not like Widow's Bay is like a huge hit. He's just a really talented actor. And so I think if you put him as a star, star of your TV show, you know it's probably going to be a good show, especially if he, because he seems to have good taste. And he's a character actor in a movie, but who could, you know, who can carry an Oscar bait movie. But I don't, I don't think you're putting him in Jurassic Park and saying, no, he could play the scientist in Jurassic Park that maybe gets eaten. Right. He can play role four. Yeah. Exactly. All right. That was a good question. I want to do one. Okay. One, Darman Studios, what's your thoughts on that? You can take that one. You're really going to make me sell all these YouTube people? I guess I'm probably a sell under. You could hold also. I just, they have been very good at getting. Expression. Expression, press. Yes. And, but they tried to raise a bunch of money. They didn't get the deals that they wanted. I thought it was very strange when the CIA did this, like, splashing New York Times story on how they care about creators and it quoted Brian Lorde, I think, comparing Darman, like Charlie Chaplin. He did. And I want to say, like, you clearly are not watching these videos because I've been to the, I've been to their facility in Burbank. It's big and sprawling and impressive. But those videos are not Charlie Chaplin. We're not going to look back at these 100 years from now and go. This was the beginning of great comedy. Have you watched a Darman video? Yeah. Because I've written about it. Okay. I, the Sean Atkins, the guy who runs that business, I like a lot. I think he's smart. Dar has been very successful. But I don't, those videos, I don't come away from those videos and be like, this is what great creator content is going to be. And this is why, you know, Netflix and Disney and HBO, they should all license this person's videos. Right. Yeah. All right. I, I, not knowing as much about him as you do, I will, I will refrain. I don't know. All right. One more question. Do you agree with the New York Times' best shows of the last 10 years list? I thought we don't do qualitative. I know. Our opinions on shows don't matter. I, I will say I liked that list. I thought it was pretty good. Um, you know, I, I would not have wanted to be the editor that had to say we're taking the sopranos off because it premiered in 1999. But I'm just going to go out there and say the wire is better than breaking bad. But I agree with that. I agree. Maybe not season five, but yeah, the bringing back got better and better and better. The wire sort of peaked and then fell off, but I don't totally agree, oh, whatever. This episode is brought to you by the new movie, The Social Reckoning. This electrifying thriller from Aaron Sorkin is based on the true story of the Facebook insider who uncovered what the company knew about the harm its platforms were causing and the Wall Street Journal reporter determined to expose it. Mikey Madison, Jeremy Alan White and Jeremy Strong star in this timely David versus Goliath story that sparked a reckoning against one of the world's most powerful companies. The social reckoning is in theaters October 9th. Let's go to a buy for me. Yeah. I'm buying Sundance. I think the move to Boulder is a great thing now. I was so skeptical that they would actually pull the trigger, but everybody I talked to who's been there and has toured, including at your dinner or the other night, I was talking to people about it, and they're like the venues are better. The people in the town are actually excited about them being there. The students, they had record volunteer signups. The only thing that they're lacking is the a list accommodations and they're hoping that a lot of Airbnb's in the neighborhood will become available because you can't then suddenly the neighborhood might not like them as well. Maybe not. But maybe you want to rent your house out to lady or someone will build a hotel. Yeah. There will be a nice hotel there very soon. But I just think it was a super risky move for them to do it, and I think that there will certainly be problems the first year and we'll hear complaints. But I think in five years we're going to look back and it's going to be like Sundance has reinvented itself and it's adhered to its mission of being more democratic and allowing more people to go and not being only for the elites that can afford to stay at the resort. I guess I hear you on why I was a good idea for them to move, but let's look a little bigger picture. We were both just a Toronto. I think there's a general feeling that that part of the film business is not in a great place. Do you feel like we're going to see big sales out of Sundance? We'll see sales, I don't know about big sales, but it's sort of easier than ever to get some deal. They may not be the deal you want or even a deal that's going to make you whole. I don't know. I mean, the knock on the programming at Sundance is that it's sort of become more and more out of touch with mainstream audiences, which I agree with, but I kind of don't care. Sure. That's what it's for. They started accepting more studio comedies and things like that. I'm not upset with that. I would like to see more value put on those kinds of movies, but I understand why the streamers are not interested if they don't see awards opportunities. I'm going to buy and after criticizing the music business, they'll say something nice about them. I am buying universal music and Warner music. Is there about to be decimated by AI? Because I think that the AI doomerism is totally overblown. Oh. I've not to say that AI is not going to have a major impact on the music business. We have Mikey Schulman here from Suno. I'm excited to talk to him. But you've seen the share prices in Warner Universal, even Spotify. Disclosure Spotify is a pretty. Oh, yeah. I know. I think that there has been an overreaction to the impact that AI specifically is going to have on those businesses, because to make AI, first of all, big customers of companies like Suno or whatever and Spotify's AI products will be musicians who release music through record labels. The record labels still are sitting on catalogs that make them very important to those companies that I think in a lot of ways will only get more valuable. There is one school of thought when it comes to AI that like having the crown jewels, including Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, whatever it may be, well, those catalogs will only get more valuable because of all the ways people can use it, use AI tools to make it work. But what about the next generation of stars? Okay. Well, I think that there are very real concerns for the record labels in the sense that they do not. It is much easier to produce and release music without their help than ever before. And there is more music, especially from other parts of the world, that they don't control. That being said, if you look at it, even the biggest stars end up wanting to have a relationship with music companies. Now, Universal is not going to own the Taylor Swift catalog, but Taylor Swift, of anyone who does so much stuff herself, still wants to have a partnership with a major record label. And I think that's going to be true. And I am not someone who thinks that you're suddenly going to have like the top 10 will just be all AI artists. I think it will be music that uses AI tools. There will be an AI billboard hot 100 number one within five years. And when you say there will be an AI billboard one, is that, but is that just soup to nuts? Everything is AI. Yes. You think so. And it will be some Tilly Norwood figure that, I think the Tilly Norwood thing is totally total bullshit. Oh, I agree on Tilly Norwood. I should have sold Tilly Norwood. No, that's like a penny stock. But I don't know. She gets a lot of press. But press doesn't mean anything. And half the press lately is for her speaking Chinese on Pierce Morgan. But I'm not worried about the top element of music. I am worried about the bottom third of the music business. People who have made a living and may be displaced. I know we don't use anecdotes on the show, but here's an anecdote. My Uber driver, I asked, I'm like, oh, what station is this? He's like, oh, free AI, free AI music. He was perfectly happy talking along around town to his free AI music. And that would have normally been a radio session, or it would have been a Spotify playlist or something. But that eats at the bottom and is not super damaging to the major companies that I've just named. I agree. All right. So I'm going to do a sell. Let's stay in the music business. Okay. We're going to have a music today. I know I'm selling Tilly Swift. I thought about it. It's time. I didn't want the treat. It's also been an amazing run. But the fans are turning. The fans are turning on her. This latest dump of four songs, like, put Tilly Swift into social media, and it's not just my algorithm, you will see. The fans do not like it. And, you know, she's already telegraphing that she's transitioning into more of a filmmaker role. She's got this search light project. She did this toy story movie, so she could have an Oscar campaign. She got this ridiculous fake award at the VMAs. What is it called? The artistic director honors. That is a new low of fake awards. I don't know. They invent a lot of things. I know. They do a lot of stuff. And, you know, this is how it works. You get a fake award and you show up. But there's a reason. It's strategic that she's doing this, and she wants to be perceived as a filmmaker, because I think she's looking at the next chapter. And it doesn't mean she can't drop another, you know, gigantic album or five or ten. But I think we have hit Peak Taylor. So, you're sort of doing with Taylor what I did with Mr. Beast. Yeah. Just saying, we're at the peak. I thought about it. I just can't bet there's something about her connection. You would like her to come to Screen Time 2027. No, because I've had, frankly, I've had a better shot with Mr. Beast than with her, and I saw it with Mr. Beast. So you'd settle for Tree Payne, I would not. But I think there is something about her connection with her fans that is very hard to replicate. And so while I think we're all waiting for that moment, because everything that she does is so cringey and like obviously capitalistic and commercial, but she tries to sell it as something else. And I'm just waiting for people to like wake up and-- - I think they have woken up. - I don't know that they have. - Have you listened to these songs? And I'm a fan, I like her music. - I have not. - Like. - Okay, but I don't, but I would say that the albums that she released during COVID weren't that good and she won Grammys. - Oh, I thought they were good. But whatever. - I think there's, she's been, she was diminishing returns, releasing too much, too productive and the quality went down and people just didn't care, they just kept eating it up. - Okay, that's enough about Taylor. - I'll sell someone and then we can run through a couple 'cause I'm near the end of it. - I have a lot more, but we can-- - No, then deal with another one. - Well, we don't have to talk about it, but I would sell the Beatles movies. - Okay. - Yeah. - Four movies coming out at the same time. - Totally great. - About the Beatles, like, Boomer Cringe. - Yeah. - Not, in my opinion. - She saved that one for next year. - We should, yeah, maybe save it for next year. Bob J. Peck, selling Bob J. Peck. - He, but that's selling low. - Even though I get another penny stock. But I am, there is nothing, there's no coming back. - I miss Book Jewel. - I asked Dana if she had read his book. - And she said no, and I asked if she planned to read it. And she said no. - Yeah. - I read it, it's pretty bad, like, at least hire, like you made tens of millions of dollars in that job. hire a decent ghost writer. - Sure. - Like, it's unbelievable. So, and then I'm gonna sell Barbie too. - Okay. - Yeah, I just given all the reporting around it and the fact that you're looking at, you know, almost a hundred million dollars in above the line costs for that movie. The break even would probably be around 700, 800 million for that movie. I do think it will happen. I think that the talks broke down at Warner Brothers because David Zazelov is selling the company and is like, fuck you, I'm not doing this. But David Ellison, when he's in charge, there's gonna be a honeymoon. And I think that he will say yes to Barbie too. And it will not perform like the first one did. I don't think it'll perform like the first one did, but I think it's one of those where the first one did one five. - Yeah. - So, I just want to do at least a billion. - You think so? - Maybe not. I think it will do well enough that it'll still be okay. - Okay. - I have a quick buy, but I'll do, I have a couple of quick buys, but I'll do my other, my last sell. - Okay. - Which is I am, I'm sort of selling the Ellison political backlash. Oh, I think that there's a lot of expect, a lot of people in this industry who are against this deal and I understand why they are. And there's a lot of actors and filmmakers and producers who have spoken out against it and for one reason or rather they think it's bad for the industry, they've got political issues with him and think he's captured by Trump, all that stuff. But this is an industry that we both know if he, to the point with Barbie, if he is gonna sign the check and say you can do the movie, you're gonna do the movie. - And there are very few choices. - And he is gonna be sitting on two of the legacy studios. He's gonna be sitting on two major streaming services. And I'm not saying that he's gonna be everyone's favorite, 18 months from now, but I do not think that he will have any, I think that the list of people who will refuse to do business at Paramount for political reasons is very short. - Mark Ruffalo, probably on the list. - Yep. - Do you predict that Mark Ruffalo's show task will get canceled at HBO? You think David Ellison will make Casey Boy's cancel that? I don't think he will. - I don't think he'll make him cancel it, but has, it's coming back. - It is coming back. - It is coming back. - Then no, there'll be a second season. I don't think the first one got huge numbers. It did fine. - It did well, and Tom Pellfrey won the Emmy. So, no, I don't, I think that David Ellison has done a shift to the right to get this deal done. And that when it is done, he will shift back to where he is, which is kind of more of a centrist and will make sure to not, or at least will try to not make overt political moves that will try. The only wild card there, two wild cards. One, Larry, and Larry may make a little phone call and say, "Hey, what are you doing here?" - Yeah. - And Trump. - Yeah. - If Trump turns on him and says, "I want Caitlin Collins fired today at CNN." And it becomes a back and forth. Like, see, I think the first one is a real risk. The second one, I think is less of a risk. - Yeah, and I don't think, maybe I'm wrong. My guess is that Trump would not call David and say that. He would have a conversation with Larry and say, "I disagree. I think he'd put it on true social." - Yeah. - Why is this woman still employed? - But that's why he got your deal done. I mean, he's like, he says the wild card out loud. - No, no, no, no. He's very good at going right up to the line and then stopping. So I don't think he would, I don't think he would say, "We got the deal done." I do think he would say Caitlin Collins should be fired. And that's one of the reasons why David couldn't do it because he would look too pliant. - Yeah. All right. I have some other buys. - Sure, I have a couple. - I'm gonna buy Hero Mariah, the director. - Great. - I think that guy, I mean, if you look, he's sort of quietly behind-- - He's really deviated from the buy-low, but I agree, he's a great director. - He is pretty high, he's pretty high already, but Windows Bay does not become what it is without-- - No, or Atlanta. - And Atlanta, and I also think he could do films, and there's a lot of upside still. I'm gonna, as you know, I'm not a huge SNL viewer, but I'm buying Ashley Padilla. - Oh, you are, good. - And she's a star. - Yeah, she's a star, I agree. How long do you think she'll stay on SNL? - At least a couple years, 'cause she's just-- - These days you can do everything else in both. You really don't have to choose. - Yeah. - You can do movies and other shows and still be on SNL. - Yeah. A lot of those cast members, like Chloe Feynman, found ways to do other things. She did eventually leave, but she was on it for a while. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I, maybe I'm not. I'm gonna buy Mel Gibson. - I was gonna bring up Mel Gibson earlier. - I think the Jesus movie is gonna be big. I think next year, the Jesus movie, I, like, the last one did a billion dollars, right? Like, the guy knows what he's doing, and he has brand credibility there, and I think we don't have to look at him. It's just a directing vehicle. He's not in the movie. I think it's gonna be big. - Okay, audience. So he's bought Johnny Depp and Mel Gibson. Who is the third reprobate that Matt should buy on his podcast? - I'm sorry. - You think, you think? - I think it's more resurrection. I think it is what you're saying. - I think it is more likely that Johnny Depp will come back than Mel Gibson. The Christian programming does very well. I'm not one Jesus movie working. It does not mean that Mel Gibson. - It doesn't. And his last movie was that weird plane movie with Mark Wahlberg that kind of came and went. - Yeah, don't remember it, yeah. I am also picking, I'm gonna buy the Bachelor franchise. - Okay. - Well, it's basically dead right now, but I think it will come back to life. - I have a final one for you, 'cause I've been torn over whether I buy, sell in the middle, where are we at on Netflix right now? You a hold? I think it's a hold, honestly. I thought about it overall. Like, I mean, Ted said it to you. Like, yes, they have engagement problems and it doesn't seem like they have an answer. Is what was the answer for you live? More live? - He didn't really have an answer. It's tricky because on the one hand, they are growing faster than their peers. They are wildly profitable. They have a huge moat, but it does feel like they are sort of, they are in a, they need a narrative reset. Agreed. And I don't know what that is. - I tried to get a massive hit. It could be some show we've never heard of. - The easy answer to this is, Netflix has just had a really rough go of programming for a few months and they will inevitably have some massive hit that will get people excited again. - Yeah, and whether they will make executive changes in the meantime, I think is an open question. Whether they continue this podcast and lower level content push is an open question. But I'm not, like, do you think they're gonna go after Universal? Not in the short term, but they're gonna, I mean, they have to look at it. Yeah, it'll be a split company soon, but we are officially at time. Can I give you my last ones? - Go quickly. - I'm buying Robert Eggers, the filmmaker. - Okay, sure. - He's got a werewolf movie this fall and he's got, focus paid a fortune for that Romeo and Juliet movie. I'm buying Shane Gillis. - As I move my star. - Tyres is great, love that show. - Tyres is a great show, biggest comic, and I think he, if you watch Tyres this season, they're laying the groundwork for him to do some kind of rom-com. - Yeah. - I'm buying Infinity Vision. - I think it's gonna work. - Okay. - I think, the more I think about it, these avengers re-release. - Yeah, it's huge. - That they marketed in Infinity Vision. It's the dumbest thing in the world, but I think people will go and we'll see Doomsday in Infinity Vision. - I think you probably all already listened to the shows and through here, but you can listen to the talent. - Yes. - All podcast platforms. - Yes, thank you. - Thank you for the plug. I appreciate that. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate you coming out. Okay, that's the show for today, no call sheet. I wanna thank our guest, of course, Lucas Shaw, producer Craig Horoback, artist, Steve Allman, and Stefano Sanchez and the entire Bloomberg team for hosting us. We will see you a couple more times this week. (upbeat music)