Top News:
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Moana 2 took $221M in the US during the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, including $135.3M from Friday to Sunday, breaking multiple Box Office records — The Walt Disney Animation sequel sailed into history with a Thanksgiving haul of $221 million, the biggest five-day opening of all time, among numerous other milestones.
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, Benzinga, The Wrap, Daily Mail, Deadline, Just Jared, Business Insider, SlashFilm, Forbes, Media Play News and Los Angeles Times
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Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
How Disney's Moana, which wasn't a big hit at its 2016 launch, became a top streaming movie in every year from 2020 to 2024, per Nielsen, with 1B+ hours watched — We've now watched ‘Moana’ for more than 1 billion hours. How did it become the No. 1 movie in streaming history?
Alex Ritman / Variety:
Mubi plans to launch Mubi Editions, a new global publishing arm dedicated to cinema and the arts, in April 2025 and hopes to publish three titles in 2025 — Arthouse distributor, streamer and production company Mubi is venturing into the world of publishing.
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly and @hannahstrong.co.uk
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom: the BBC had a 37% share of local news page views in H1 2024 in the UK, up from 26% in 2022; commercial publishers' share in England fell from 80% to 67% — Commercial publishers pleased with Ofcom acknowledgement of BBC competition. — An increase in local news being produced online …
Discussion:
HoldtheFrontPage
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Documents: in 2023, LeBron James' Springhill lost $28M on $104M in sales; the production company aims to be profitable in 2024, after its merger with Fulwell 73 — Film and TV businesses started by celebrities have raised lots of money. What's missing are profits — I changed my mind about the newsletter.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @ddiamond, @lucas_shaw and @howielongshort
John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:
Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy aims to revitalize Showtime by using successful formulas like Yellowstone from Paramount+ and investing in high-profile projects — Before a new owner takes over, the TV brand once known for ‘Billions’ and ‘Homeland’ is working to come up with new marquee hits
Financial Times:
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says the startup is weighing up an ads model, but plans to be “thoughtful”; sources say OpenAI has hired ad talent from Meta and Google — ChatGPT maker hires advertising talent from big tech rivals — OpenAI is discussing plans to introduce advertising …
Discussion:
@ohmrun@cr8r.gg and @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
How YouTuber Ms. Rachel, whose baby-focused educational videos get 100M views, has attracted huge interest from toy companies and publishers before the holidays — About a year and a half ago, Laura Henderson, a toy company executive and 38-year-old mother in Toronto, was at the tail end of maternity leave with her second child.
Discussion:
@dru.bsky.social
Columbia Journalism Review:
A Tow Center analysis finds ChatGPT was partially or entirely incorrect in 153 out of 200 quote citations whether or not publishers allowed OpenAI's crawler — ChatGPT search — which is positioned as a competitor to search engines like Google and Bing — launched with a press release …
New York Times:
Trump says he plans to nominate Kash Patel as FBI director; Patel vowed last year to “come after” journalists who “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections” — President-elect Donald J. Trump turned to a firebrand loyalist to become director of the bureau …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Atlantic, Associated Press, The Hill, Alternet.org, Althouse, Washington Post, CBS News, Boston Herald, HuffPost, CNN, CNN, New York Daily News, Associated Press, Bangor Daily News, RADAR, New York Times, Contemplating Life …, RedState, @amuse, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Reuters, Le Monde, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Voice of America, al.com, Ken Klippenstein, Washington Times, Politico, emptywheel, NBC Bay Area, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Townhall, IJR, Rolling Stone, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @kylegriffin1, @krassenstein, @mattgertz, @harryjsisson, @adgirlmm, @ninaburleigh, @noliewithbtc, @opdeatheaters, The Moderate Voice, The Guardian, Power Line, UPI, @nukestrat.bsky.social, @edwardwinkleman.bsky.social, Twitchy, ZeroHedge News, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Financial Times, Axios, @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social, Mediaite, BBC, ABC News, Washington Post, @justinhendrix.bsky.social, NPR, Tampa Free Press, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Rolling Stone, Forbes, The Independent, The Daily Signal, The Hill, CBS News, New York Post, NBC News, @realDonaldTrump …, The Daily Caller, Crooks and Liars, Just The News and Semafor
Feven Merid / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with journalism professor Stephen G. Bloom on working in Brazil as a young reporter, the history of expat English-language papers in the country, and more — A conversation with the author of The Brazil Chronicles — In 1979, at the age of twenty-eight, Stephen G. Bloom set …
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
NBC says the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade drew a record 31.3M viewers, up 10% YoY, on NBC and Peacock; streaming hours on Peacock grew 26% YoY — The holiday also brings big audiences for NFL games and NBC's National Dog Show telecast. … NBC says 31.3 million viewers watched …
Discussion:
The Ankler, TV Insider, @jbflint, @brianstelter, Media Play News, Daily Mail, The Desk, The Wrap, Will Coss on LinkedIn, Variety, TVLine and Deadline