Overview of The 2026 Hollywood Executive Power Ranking
In this episode of The Town, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw build a “power ranking” of the five most powerful executives in Hollywood for 2026, focusing strictly on greenlight power rather than talent, directors, or showrunners. Their criteria center on who controls what gets made, who gets paid, what services get launched or scrapped, and the overall size of each executive’s domain. The list reflects a moment of major transition across studios and streamers, especially at Disney, Netflix, Amazon, NBCUniversal, and Skydance.
How They Defined “Power”
What counted
- Direct influence over content greenlights
- Control over budget allocation and strategic content decisions
- Oversight of a large entertainment domain
- Ability to shape major studio/streaming strategy
What was excluded
- Pure talent names like Christopher Nolan or Taylor Sheridan
- Executives without meaningful content involvement
- CEOs whose role is too removed from programming decisions
Key framing
- They treated the list as a Hollywood executive list, not a broader media or talent-power ranking.
- They also acknowledged that some executives have influence above formal greenlight committees, making the ranking partly about who can overrule others.
The Top 5 Most Powerful Executives in Hollywood
1. Ted Sarandos — Netflix
- Both hosts agreed Sarandos is still the clear No. 1.
- Netflix remains the biggest pure entertainment spend in the business.
- He is unusually hands-on for a CEO and directly shapes:
- awards strategy
- theatrical vs. streaming decisions
- major movie and TV bets
- They pointed out that he even replaced his chief content officer, reinforcing how centralized his authority is.
- Their key argument: if Sarandos changed strategy tomorrow, he could reshape the movie business.
2–3. David Ellison — Skydance
- Ellison was placed near the top because he is a hands-on owner/CEO with major ambition and influence.
- Strengths:
- direct control of one of the industry’s biggest growing entertainment entities
- unusually involved in creative decisions, especially on the movie side
- strong sports assets and major streaming ambitions
- Concerns:
- Skydance still has to prove itself
- the company carries significant debt
- some parts of the business are still outside his direct creative orbit
- The hosts noted that Ellison’s power may rise quickly if Skydance’s scale and spending plans materialize as promised.
2–3. Josh D’Amaro — Disney
- D’Amaro’s case is that Disney is still one of the most consequential entertainment companies in the world.
- Why he ranks so high:
- oversees an enormous entertainment ecosystem
- controls major content, park, and strategic decisions
- has direct influence on content priorities across the company
- Why he’s not higher:
- he is less directly involved in day-to-day creative greenlighting than some others
- Disney’s content apparatus still includes other strong creative executives
- The episode also notes that Disney’s broader performance, parks strength, and AI/digital strategy help explain why he belongs near the top.
4–5. Donna Langley — NBCUniversal
- Langley was praised as one of the best creative executives in town.
- Strengths:
- strong talent relationships
- major track record with filmmakers and creators
- key figure behind relationships with names like Jordan Peele, Christopher Nolan, and others
- Limitation:
- her domain is split with Matt Strauss, so she does not have total control over the whole enterprise
- sports and other major pieces sit outside her direct purview
- Important note:
- the hosts said the planned NBCUniversal/Comcast split in 2027 could increase her power, because it may give her more direct control.
4–5. Mike Hopkins — Prime Video / Amazon
- Hopkins is the head of Prime Video and sits atop one of the largest entertainment-spending companies.
- Strengths:
- Amazon is one of the five biggest entertainment players
- Prime Video has become more ambitious in movies, TV, and sports
- he now has more consolidated authority after the removal of a go-between layer
- Limitation:
- he is seen as more of a “suit” than a talent-relations executive
- he is less directly associated with the creative relationships that define some of the others on the list
Notable Debates and Snubs
Biggest near-misses
- Brian Lord (CAA)
- Raised as a possible No. 5 because agency power can be extremely disruptive if deployed strategically.
- Casey Bloys (HBO/Max)
- Mentioned as a major TV power player with strong creative relationships.
- Neil Mohan (YouTube)
- Considered, then mostly dismissed because YouTube doesn’t really function like a traditional Hollywood commissioner.
- George Cheeks (CBS/Paramount TV)
- Briefly mentioned in the context of broader TV-network power.
The big takeaway from the debate
- There is no perfect list because modern entertainment power is split between:
- studios
- streamers
- sports
- parks
- agencies
- platform companies
- The ranking reflects not just size, but who can actually say yes or no.
Broader Takeaways
- The episode suggests Hollywood power is increasingly concentrated in a small group of executives who combine budget control, content strategy, and corporate influence.
- The hosts repeatedly return to one key idea: power is about who gets the phone call returned first.
- Netflix still feels like the most consequential single player, even amid criticism about its theatrical strategy and recent leadership changes.
- Disney remains a giant because of its scale, even if its content machine is less aggressive than Netflix’s.
- Skydance is the wildcard: if Ellison’s plans scale as expected, he could move up quickly.
Box Office Draft Update
The episode briefly ends with an update on the hosts’ box office draft:
- Lucas Shaw is leading Matt Belloni by about $3.2 billion.
- Matt still has big titles left, including:
- Avengers: Doomsday
- The Hunger Games movie
- Lucas still has:
- Dune 3
- Jumanji
- The hosts joked that Matt would need an almost impossible box-office miracle to catch up.
- They also announced plans for a live box office draft event in January with tickets for fans.