The Five Biggest Hollywood Storylines for the Rest of 2026

Summary of The Five Biggest Hollywood Storylines for the Rest of 2026

by The Ringer

37m•September 1, 2026
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Overview of The Town with Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw

This episode looks ahead to the biggest Hollywood and entertainment-business storylines for the rest of the year, with Matt Belloni and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw focusing on mergers, streaming strategy, gaming’s cultural power, sports-rights bidding, and potential government policy shifts. The recurring theme: the industry’s recent summer optimism may not last once fall pressure hits, especially for Netflix and the Warner Bros./Paramount orbit.

The Biggest Hollywood Storylines to Watch

1) The Warner Bros./Paramount merger drama

  • The hosts say the most immediate Hollywood question is what happens with the Warner/Paramount deal.
  • Key concerns:
    • Will the merger settle, go to trial, or otherwise drag on?
    • Will the uncertainty trigger a brain drain of executives, producers, and projects?
    • How much will David Ellison have to concede to get the deal across the finish line?
  • They suggest the longer the process drags out, the more it could affect internal morale and external business decisions.

2) Netflix: growth slowdown, programming slump, and strategy changes

  • Netflix’s stock is down sharply over the last year, which the hosts frame as a sign that investors are less enthusiastic despite the company’s strong profitability.
  • Two big Netflix questions dominate:
    • What is Netflix’s next growth engine?
    • Can it break its current programming slump?
  • They discuss Netflix’s major strategic bets:
    • Expanding creator deals, especially with YouTubers
    • More sports involvement
    • Podcasting
    • Gaming
    • Possible licensing/syndication-style partnerships
  • Lucas Shaw says he does not expect a major executive shakeup before year-end unless an activist or other pressure forces it.

3) Netflix vs. YouTube: the creator bidding war

  • One of the most heated subplots is Netflix’s attempt to pull major YouTube creators onto its platform.
  • YouTube is responding more aggressively than before, both by:
    • Offering better support/funding for creators
    • Threatening consequences if creators take simultaneous Netflix deals
  • YouTube’s concern is that Netflix could become the “graduate to the majors” platform while YouTube gets treated like the junior league.
  • The hosts also note that other companies like Disney, Amazon, and Paramount may try to enter the creator space, but it may already be too late to matter much.

4) Grand Theft Auto 6 as a cultural disruptor

  • The hosts identify GTA 6 as one of the biggest entertainment events of the year, even though it is a game rather than a film or TV title.
  • Reasons it matters:
    • Pre-sales are already massive
    • Analysts expect enormous launch-week revenue
    • It could out-earn any movie in a calendar year
  • Belloni and Shaw argue that the game may absorb attention and spending in the same way major sports events do, potentially affecting:
    • Movie release performance
    • TV viewership
    • Consumer attention in late fall
  • They also note the broader issue: game titles are massively important, but media coverage still tends to underweight them compared with film and TV.

5) A possible federal film tax credit

  • Another major storyline is whether Congress will finally pass a federal film production tax credit.
  • Why it might happen now:
    • Production has increasingly moved out of the U.S.
    • The issue has unusual bipartisan appeal
    • Trump’s support could be decisive
  • The hosts say the biggest hinge point is whether Trump gets behind it, possibly with help from industry figures like Jon Voight or other allies.
  • Georgia is highlighted as a politically important state because it has been heavily affected by production leaving for other locations.
  • The credit would not solve everything, but it could help keep more production in the U.S. and reduce some of the pressure from overseas competition.

6) The 2030 World Cup rights

  • The next major sports-rights battle may be the U.S. rights to the 2030 World Cup.
  • Fox benefited enormously from the 2026 rights thanks to a favorable deal, but that may not repeat.
  • The expectation is that FIFA may bundle English and Spanish-language rights and seek a bigger, possibly streamer-friendly partner.
  • The hosts think:
    • Fox is unlikely to keep the rights
    • Disney is a natural candidate
    • Netflix is also a serious possibility because it wants splashy, global live events
  • The big question is whether a company will overpay for a property whose U.S. viewership may be weaker due to less favorable time zones.

Additional Industry Notes

Fall festivals and studio strategy

  • The episode briefly discusses how studio movies are increasingly avoiding fall festivals like Toronto.
  • The hosts think studios are scared of a “Joker”-style backlash and prefer to control the launch narrative themselves.
  • Their view: this may be partly smart marketing, but it also reflects a broader fear that studios no longer trust festival exposure for commercial titles.

Warner Bros. and studio chief rumors

  • There’s also talk about possible studio executive movement, especially around Warner Bros.
  • The episode suggests the merger uncertainty keeps those rumors alive, even if nothing actually happens right away.

AMC’s Leawood Films venture

  • In the later segment, the show covers AMC Theatres launching Leawood Films, a distribution arm for independently financed movies.
  • The idea:
    • AMC won’t finance the films
    • It will distribute them directly into theaters
    • It aims to support creator-led or YouTube-led movie projects
  • The hosts see this as a smart move because it lets AMC capture a new lane in a fragmented entertainment market.

Bottom Line

The episode’s core takeaway is that Hollywood is entering a more uncertain fall after a relatively strong summer. The biggest pressure points are:

  • merger chaos around Warner/Paramount,
  • Netflix’s shaky momentum and strategic pivots,
  • the rise of YouTube creators as entertainment assets,
  • the cultural shockwave from GTA 6,
  • and major sports/policy opportunities that could reshape the business.

If there’s one theme tying everything together, it’s that the old boundaries between film, TV, sports, gaming, and creator media are getting blurrier fast.