2026 Burning Questions: Another Strike? Is 'Avengers: Doomsday' Doomed? And David Ellison’s Movie Taste.

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to ask their most burning questions for Hollywood in 2026, including whether another strike is imminent, how NFL rights negotiations will affect the shows and movies made for streaming, what types of movies David Ellison will make as the head of a major studio, whether Universal can unseat Disney as the box office champion for the first time in over a decade, and much more (01:34). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thetown@spotify.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is Monday, January 5th. It's 2026. Welcome back, everyone, in Hollywood and beyond.
0:06.3	It's going to be a pretty monumental year in the business, I think.
0:09.0	Not just who's going to take over Warner Brothers or who's going to replace Bob Iger at Disney
0:12.8	or can the Russo Brothers manage to screw up an Avengers movie? I think the answer to that one is probably yes.
0:18.5	Bigger picture, the forces that are remaking the entertainment
0:21.4	business and the name of big tech are only accelerating. It seems like some of the fundamental
0:26.1	basics of traditional entertainment are seriously endangered, whether it's TV writers or the talent
0:31.6	agencies or movie theaters. Maybe this is the year that Hollywood writes, ship, finally figures out the new normal
0:38.6	how to coexist with Google and AI and maybe even turn a narrative of downsizing and reduced
0:44.0	ambition into something more hopeful. Out of chaos comes opportunity. Maybe that's our new mantra.
0:49.4	So today, Lucas Shaw from Bloomberg is here, our Monday guy. He's back from his holiday yacht.
0:53.8	He's caught up in the whole Venezuela thing with Leo. But he's here and we're going to get
0:57.5	into our most burning questions for 2026. Not the obvious stuff, not the Disney Warner stuff,
1:03.3	but these sneaky stuff, the stories that may define this year and beyond, box office and streaming
1:08.7	and YouTube, all of it. Burning questions for 26 on our first show of the year.
1:13.3	And by the way, we also now have an Instagram.
1:15.3	Welcome to 26.
1:16.5	Welcome to 2019, maybe.
1:18.5	You can see me, watch clips on At The Town with Matt Bellany.
1:22.7	More video to come as well.
1:24.7	Today, burning questions.
1:26.3	From The Ringer and Puck.
	...

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