Disney+ Tops 150 Million Subscribers, Streaming Loss Narrows to $387 Million

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney (Iger hosted a similar town hall exactly a year ago to the day, upon resuming his post last November) following the surprise ousting of Bob Chapek, and on the heels of Disney reporting its most recent quarterly and full-fiscal-year earnings and taking a stumble at the Thanksgiving holiday box office with new animated film “Wish.” When asked by Muir if coming back to the position of CEO has been more challenging than he had anticipated, Iger, who originally ran Disney for 15 years from 2005-2020, said yes. “I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back,” Iger said.

With its seventh weekend numbers tallied, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour has topped the $250M global benchmark. At $250.01M per AMC, the split is a little over $178.2M domestic with $71.8M coming from the international box office.

Kornbread is opening up about a massive transformation her body went through.

EXCLUSIVE: Teresa Palmer (The Clearing, The Fall Guy), Miranda Richardson (Good Omens, Spider) and Danielle Macdonald (The Tourist, Patti Cake$) and a host of other names have joined Nicole Kidman‘s light-hearted Australian drama series The Last Anniversary.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Hollywood might not be feeling so festive this Thanksgiving. The holiday period is traditionally a busy time for moviegoing, but audiences aren’t turning out in force over Turkey Day, leaving the box office suffering from too much tryptophan. In this drowsy state of play, Disney’s “Wish” earned a lackluster $8.3 million on Wednesday.

The Crown has been the most-streamed show in the UK over the past week, but the final season’s ratings have lost a little shine when compared with last year.

It was another slow week for college football.

Three people were hurt by a lamppost that likely fell down due to a strong gust of wind at Disneyland this morning. One person was taken to an area hospital to be treated for serious injuries and two others were treated at the scene and released.

It was a big night for Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards as they both took the most trophies.

Refresh for latest…: Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes very (very) narrowly missed the $100M mark globally in its opening weekend, but it’s as near as dammit with an estimated $98.5M through Sunday worldwide. The Francis Lawrence-directed prequel came in slightly higher than pre-frame projections overseas with $54.5M from 87 international box office markets. The drag on getting to the century milestone was domestic at $44M versus hopes for $50M+. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Model, investor and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss is acquiring fashion publication i-D Magazine from Vice Media Group, which recently restructured its business after emerging from bankruptcy. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the sale, Kloss will lead the British magazine as CEO, with i-D top editor Alastair McKimm to expand his role and assume the role of chief creative officer and global editor-in-chief.

Sky is getting ready for Black Friday 2023, with potential deals on Sky Glass, Sky Stream and broadband packages. Even though Black Friday isn't until November 24, it's never too early to start looking for bargains. Big brands like Sky are already preparing for the shopping event, which also includes Cyber Monday.This online-only sale follows Black Friday and sees thousands of retailers offering deals.

Valerie Wu Intern Disney Branded Television has acquired first-generation Taiwanese American filmmaker Sean Wang’s award-winning documentary short, “Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó.” “Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó” features dialogue in both Mandarin and English and is a “multigenerational story” that celebrates Sean Wang’s two grandmothers, one on his father’s side and the other on his mother’s side. The film premiered at the SXSW film festival, where it took home the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.

Beauty buffs are snapping up a box containing £150-worth of free products that rival cult brands like Olaplex and Sol De Janeiro. The viral Locks and Glow Beauty Case, which contains 20 full-size products, would usually cost £268, but in the Black Friday Sale has been reduced down to a far more budget-friendly price.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery narrowed its third-quarter loss as the media giant, grappling with billions of dollars in debt as a result of the 2022 merger that created it, saw the box-office success of “Barbie” offset by a 12% decline in advertising at its portfolio of TV networks. The owner of CNN, the Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar reported its third-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing TV ad revenue was down overall 23% for the July-September quarter. Meanwhile, the CW network made quarter-over-quarter progress on its path to profitability by narrowing its losses to $60 million. For the CW, which was formally acquired by Nexstar in October 2022 from Paramount Global and Warner Bros.

A family adventure feature about a dyslexic London school kid sent to live with his grandmother in Scotland has topped the annual Brit List for the top unsigned TV and film projects.

Streaming‘s challenging economics will make industry consolidation “inevitable,” in the view of Candle Media Co-CEO Kevin Mayer, but Big Tech and Hollywood are likely to remain in separate camps.

Universal/Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s was still plenty game this weekend, crossing $100M at the international box office and $200M worldwide. The sophomore frame overseas, where this is a pure theatrical play, dipped 54% to deliver $35.6M in 74 markets for a $103.5M offshore cume and $217.1M global.

Paramount Global beat Wall Street analysts’ estimates in the third quarter, thanks in large part to streaming flagship Paramount+, which added 2.7 million subscribers to hit 63 million globally.