“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)
“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)
“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
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
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
“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
The show averaged 3.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s report, CBS publicist Julie Holland shared in an email Tuesday — down about 25 percent from the previous year. The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment on the ratings. - Washington Post
“The year saw the industry take some big swings, like the Las Vegas Sphere getting into the theatrical business with an enhanced version of The Wizard of Oz, or the revival of a long-dead format for cinephiles. Then there’s AI, a technology that Hollywood is still coming to grips with.” - TheWrap (MSN)
There were reasons to feel optimistic about the trajectory of an industry that has been knocked down and counted out for half a decade. But those reasons didn’t end up counterbalancing several worrying trends — not least of which was the expansion of Netflix. - Variety
The number of UK streaming subscribers on packages that include commercials has overtaken those on higher-priced ad-free plans for the first time, in a milestone for British television. - The Guardian
In 2025, slop is everywhere. Low-effort, low-quality, AI-generated nonsense is polluting our social media feeds, search engine results, scientific journals, music streaming services, eBook marketplaces, universities, legal filings, and more. - Mother Jones
“The industry is investing heavily in the future of series like it: low-budget, mobile-only ‘microdramas’ with episodes between 60 and 90 seconds. These shows, also known as ‘verticals’ for their phone orientation, have already become widely popular in China.” - The Guardian
“Verticals as the next big thing for Vancouver creatives and crews follows a major consumer shift in the entertainment ecosystem where made-in-China microdramas that combine the immediacy of social media with the soapy emotions of TV dramas have started to captivate U.S. audiences.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (£90m) in revenue each year, according to estimates. - The Guardian
