Ben Fritz

latimes.comVacant and vandalized, this $34-million LAUSD campus could be a sign of what's to comeLAUSD's Miramar campus, which sits vacant and vandalized on the edge of downtown, becomes an unhappy parable for a school district that must downsize as enrollment shrinks.

LAUSD spent $34 million to build a school and is spending $1 million annually on security and maintenance. Zero kids go there. Cool. Coolcoolcool. www.latimes.com/california/s...

wsj.comThe Secret Playbook That Made the Elizabeth Holmes Movie a Smash HitA24’s strategy for its ‘You Can See Everything’ documentary catapulted the film to wild popularity.

Here's how A24 made "You Can See Everything" a surprise hit and what lies ahead for Hollywood's hottest indie studio. w/ @johnjurgensen.bsky.social www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Remember the producer who sued Netflix for losing his $45 million Nic Cage movie? Turns out he and his film "Fortitude" had a very colorful history before the lawsuit. This one's a very fun read, I promise. www.wsj.com/business/med...

My favorite detail:

Nailed it

Talking about global theatrical releases with 45 day windows, Sarandos repeatedly emphasizes the word "family." In other words, we may see more big budget family films get the "Narnia" treatment from Netflix, but not other genres.

Sarandos, after touting that the "Ice Age" movies streaming on Netflix will help promote the sequel hitting theaters in February: "Yes, Netflix just plugged a Disney movie on its earnings call. You’re welcome Josh."

Co-CEO Greg Peters says Netflix is open to selling other services within its app, as Amazon already does (imagine getting Peacock inside of Netflix): "Those would be yet another way to expand our entertainment offering."

Ted Sarandos: "We do need better execution in the U.S... It’s just not growing as fast as it could or as fast as we’d like. We’ve had some really solid doubles and triples. The other territories count on those titles being home runs so they can travel around the world."

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters: "In the U.S. our engagement is solid and it will allow us to continue to grow. But we know that we can do better. That better is our upside. It’s our goal to go from very good to great on the performance of that slate."

Ousting top creative leaders, manually tweaking the content recommendation algo, pulling back on games -- all to try and arrest an alarming drop in U.S. engagement. It's a new world for once-unstoppable Netflix. www.wsj.com/business/med...

Good news: LAUSD test scores are improving. Bad news: statewide average is under 40% meeting/exceeding math standards?

First ever box office report from Netflix

youtube.comWhy Warner Bros. Is Being Sold for $81B | WSJ What Went WrongYouTube video by The Wall Street Journal

Hey 1 million people have already watched our video on the decline and sale of the once-mighty studio Warner Bros. Join in! www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXw6...

wsj.comWhy Hollywood’s Most Iconic Studio Is Being Sold—AgainWarner Brothers was once the gold standard for Hollywood – both on the big screen and behind the scenes. Now, it’s being sold for the third time in a decade. WSJ’s Ben Fritz explains what went wrong a...

Not long ago, Warner Bros. was THE premiere studio in Hollywood. No. 1 at the box office, no. 1 on networks, and the no. 1 place talent wanted to work. On the last day of its independent existence, we made a video about what's been lost and what went wrong www.wsj.com/video/why-ho...

huh

wsj.comExclusive | How Local Police Get Paid Big Money for Just a Few Immigration ArrestsThe Department of Homeland Security gives local agencies as much as $2 million for each arrest in a nationwide task force.

After turning over a single deportable immigrant, departments qualify to receive $60,000 a year for each deputized officer, regardless of additional arrests. www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...

wsj.comGoogle Pushed AI Into Schools—and Even Students Say It’s Gone Too FarThe risks of cognitive and emotional dependence, along with falling test scores, are fueling a backlash.

"Current and former Google employees said they feared that AI will travel the same arc as social media, where a Big Tech push fueled adoption among children, harms emerged five years later, and regulations to begin addressing those harms took 10 years." www.wsj.com/tech/ai/goog...

wsj.comDisney Planning TV Restructuring as Streamlining ContinuesThe reorganization, the latest under CEO Josh D’Amaro, is expected to result in hundreds of layoffs and the consolidation of divisions.

Disney is planning a major restructuring of its television business. Fewer brands and fewer people. w/ Joe Flint www.wsj.com/business/med...

This is the thumbnail Gemini Notebook created for the project I created containing my Bob Chapek interview and related reporting.

Folks, this one's a really good read. In his first interview since being fired from Disney, Bob Chapek talks about Scarlett Johansson, "don't say gay," and why he believes he never had a chance against Iger's campaign to undermine and replace him. www.wsj.com/business/med...

23 Sept

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan speaks for the first time about what can happen to creators who sign deals with Netflix. www.wsj.com/business/med...

20 Sept

My profile of Roy Lee, the disarmingly honest, low key "IP guy" who produced "The Ring," "The Lego Movie," "It," "A Minecraft Movie" and this weekend's hit "Resident Evil." I hope you'll read it, but either way, here's my absolute favorite detail. www.wsj.com/business/med...

wsj.comExclusive | Gemini Hacked Three Companies in First Known Breakout by Google’s AIThe episode resembled similar hacks by other AI models, but Google said it did not consider it an instance of model misalignment.

18 Sept

Seems like there's a trend here. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/gemi...

17 Sept

California's GOP candidate for governor distancing himself from Trump

wsj.comThe Woman Fixing a Microsoft Mess With Brutal HonestyThe Woman Fixing a Microsoft Mess With Brutal Honesty

12 Sept

Asha Sharma has a saying: "clarity of kindness." The new Xbox CEO has zero experience in video games and a mission to fix Microsoft's troubled business with brutal honesty. My profile: www.wsj.com/tech/xbox-mi...

12 Sept

Also, people who sent Asha Sharma wedding invitations: I want to know who you are!

9 Sept

This seems bad. www.wsj.com/economy/cons...

9 Sept

"Avengers Doomsday" box office pre-sales are over $50 million, Disney's CFO just said at a Goldman Sachs conference.

8 Sept

Realized while watching episode 4 that John and Hal have strong Tracy Flick-Mr. McAllister vibes

8 Sept

Stunner

hollywoodreporter.com‘You Can See Everything’ Review: Elizabeth Holmes Doc From Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim Is Fascinatingly Slippery, Dizzyingly CleverThe film — a surprise world premiere at Telluride — picks up the story of the disgraced Theranos founder in the weeks leading up to her prison sentence, and then again two years into her incarceration...

7 Sept

Elizabeth Holmes inviting Nathan Fielder into her life seems like it could rival Michael Jackson cooperating with Martin Bashir in the annals of catastrophic celebrity misjudgment. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

1 Sept

Who knew Laura Linney could act so convincingly non-human

1 Sept

David Ellison has promised, in writing, 30+ movies annually if Paramount buys Warner. As this chart shows, his pledge defies economic trends. So will he stick to it? And is it smart business? www.wsj.com/business/med...

wsj.comTrump Calls for Federal Film and Television Tax IncentiveA beleaguered Hollywood has been lobbying for help to stop the flight of productions to other countries.

31 Aug

Many in Hollywood have been eagerly, anxiously, desperately awaiting this moment. Backers believe a federal tax credit of 15% or 20% could bring a lot of film and TV production back to the U.S., where entertainment workers are really struggling. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

28 Aug

An Aardman-produced Pokemon series!

27 Aug

People accuse Hollywood of fan service and playing it safe, then in a 10 episode season of *science-fiction* franchise Star Trek ("Strange New Worlds"), they devote five in a row to: dinosaurs, horror, "The Hangover," "Casablanca," and... puppets.

wsj.comCalifornia Passed a Law to Help Abuse Victims. It’s Costing Taxpayers Billions.The state made it easier to file civil claims over decades-old abuse, but critics say the law lacks limits that would rein in fraud and high costs.

27 Aug

L.A. County has already agreed to pay settlements that so far would cost about $500 for each of the county’s 9.7 million residents. Under its main agreement, even plaintiffs suspected of fraud could be paid $50,000 to drop their claims. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

25 Aug

So ghostwritten op-eds are totally cool, but AI-written ones are not? Want to make sure I'm clear on the rules.

wsj.comStartup Founders Are Working Harder Than Ever to Keep Up With Their AI AgentsThe growing capabilities of AI give new meaning to working yourself to the bone.

22 Aug

"The more work AI agents do, the more founders find themselves working." Is that what AI was supposed to do for us? www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-a...

17 Aug

Obviously the aliens are the main mystery. But will someone also look into why the rancher grandparents appear to be in their 40s?

The non-rave "Lanterns" reviews are like "the comic book stuff ruins it" or "why make a Green Lantern show with so little comic book stuff?" Which goes to show that the right amount of comic book stuff in an adaptation is totally subjective based on your personal geekdom

wsj.comHow a Sony Veteran Is Overhauling the Company He Grew Up InThe Sony veteran says the future of the electronics business is entertainment.

For the people in Hollywood constantly wondering whether Sony Pictures will be sold, the CEO of Sony Corp.'s says its primary business is now entertainment. So no. www.wsj.com/business/med...

nytimes.comGoogle Turns On Gemini A.I. for Students Using Its Classroom App (Gift Article)Google enabled A.I. features for K-12 schools that have allowed student access to Gemini. Until this week, Google automatically enabled Gemini in Classroom only for students 18 or older.

Having to effectively monitor which tech tools are enabled for which students sounds like a fun additional job for school administrators and teachers. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/b...

"Supergirl 2" canceled. Box office to blame, sources say.

13 Aug

I wouldn't personally dispense it as bullet pointed advice, but I've absolutely done something like this while reading particularly dense novels and found it quite helpful. Seems pretty snobby to mock it IMO.

11 Aug

While on vacation I learned that Premiere magazine is still a thing in France. Lucky them! (Also had a great time taking my son and father on a WWI/II military history tour)

30 July

Spider-Man is totally defying Hollywood's superhero slump, as evidenced by the huge opening weekend "Brand New Day" is about to have. Why? The insanely popular preschool cartoon "Spidey and His Amazing Friends" is part of the reason. www.wsj.com/business/med...

30 July

I interviewed Kevin Feige about why Spider-Man is Marvel's most popular and profitable character, as well as producer Amy Pascal, the "Spidey" showrunner and some parents whose kids are obsessed with the Disney Jr. program.