ICYMI: Disney Drama, Blum & Wan, Winnie the Pooh's Dark Turn, Sundance Soiree

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Richard Rushfield and Janice Min

Jan 15

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Hello! Richard heads to Sundance this week, where he’ll be rushing to screenings, cursing the shuttle and mogul-spotting in the snow. He’ll also be hosting an event! If you too are dusting off the down, come mingle with us on Main Street. Space is limited. Please RSVP to events@theankler.com and we’ll write back to confirm your attendance.

Two weeks into 2023 and the holidays are officially over. This week: awards season kicked into high gear (even if Globes ratings didn’t); 2023 had its first box office hit; and Disney experienced its first convulsion of the year. We made sense of it all in this week’s dispatches:

New franchise! Sean McNulty debuted a podcast series, Why it Worked, featuring interviews about success (yes it still happens!). In light of the year’s first bonafide hit, things kicked off with a really fun conversation with Jason Blum and James Wan about M3GAN.
Who's Gaining in the Race for Top U.S. Streamer? 12 charts captured 2022's final tally from Entertainment Strategy Guy.
The Ankler audience watches a lot of awards movies (71 percent have seen all, most or some). But awards shows? That’s a different story. Our big awards season poll took the town’s temperature; on location at the Beverly Hilton, Richard delivered his own verdicts in Rushfield: In the Room Where It Kinda Happened.
The unhappiest place on earth? To be in an activist investor's crosshairs. The Ankler podcast considered the welts from Nelson Peltz in The Disney Drama Continues!
Exclusive doc news right before Sundance: Davis Guggenheim Sets New Leadership Team as Laurene Powell Jobs-backed Concordia faces the need to increase volume.
The vagaries of success (see above!) and risks of caution are examined by Rob Long in Martini Shot: One Panic Attack Away

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And don’t miss Sean’s latest visit to CNBC:

The Exchange @CNBCTheExchange

With Disney shares popping after Nelson Peltz's push to join the Disney board, does he have the right ideas to turn around the stock performance? @Variety_Cynthia, @theseanmac, and @sherman4949 debate the activist push at $DIS

Mickey Mouse's copyright is up. So is Bambi's and Peter Pan's. Writer Andy Lewis talks to the director of horror flick Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey about how to develop IP now in the public domain. “I've got a goal to ruin all 7 billion childhood memories,” jokes Rhys Frake-Waterfield.
You know a column is filled with the goods when the headline, IP Picks: An Incestuous Sports Feud, might not even be the most dramatic story available for option. Five great stories with rights available.